Cheese, crackers and summer sausage
+ Cup of Noodle (4)
+ microwave dinner
+ mixed vegetable tray with dip
+Chips
= $50
There were four other people stuck waiting with me. One was Jorge, who was a deck hand on the Intrepid, I had not gotten to know him on the boat but I thought it would be interesting to talk to him for a while. He lives in Columbia, and his only baggage was a clear plastic bag full of stuffed animals for his girlfriend. He found the television lounge in A wing and parked himself there for 20 hours or more so I never did get to talk with him.
There was also a middle aged man who wore shorts and unbuttoned his shirt half way when he was inside. The stringy hair that hung across his face only half covered the scabby infection on his temple that had got him sent off the boat toward a doctor. He liked to read Clive Cussler and was fortunate enough to get a standby seat on Monday’s flight.
A greasy haired hick was the third and the fourth was young guy of Asian descent. The latter looked on the verge of panic when he discovered that he might be spending a day or two in a hotel room alone. A little later he commented that it would be nice if we could just drive back home. I laughed and said if he could get a boat we could drive that back. He turned serious and asked if there was no way to drive back on land. I told him we were on an island and he said he thought maybe there was a bridge or something. I shook my head partly to tell him no and partly in disbelief that any one could be so ignorant of their location.
After sleeping 14 hours to catch up from the last two days of finishing up work and packing, there was not much left of Sunday. I went out in the afternoon; walking east to the end of the road and then south to the beach. I was taking pictures of an icicle, trying to get a drip of water just falling off the end when an Arctic Fox came over the dune, he came within 3 meters before he realized I was crouched nearby. He quickly darted away, I tried to zoom in to get a good picture, but my battery was too low. According to the posters in the airport St Paul is a great place to come and bird watch because there are a number of rare species of puffins and auks that nest there, also there are thousands of fur seals that breed on the beaches. Naturally that takes place in the summer; in April there is nothing but dead grass, patches of snow and black sands.
I waited optimistically on Monday, but there were no spots on the plane. So I walked from the airport to town and back again. I bought a few candy bars and a bottle of coke to get me through the last night. Most of the time I was stuck I spent reading ‘I Robot’ by Isaac Asimov I was not sure about reading it thinking that I would know the ending after seeing the movie, but the only connection between the book and the movie is the 3 rules that govern the way Asimov’s robots think.
Tuesday finally came and I got out with out problem. It was a relaxing couple of days but it was good to get back to a real city and see some people I knew.
