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It was at this time, back in 1985 that I got a call from the UK to say my Mother was quite ill, and might not last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At that time, we were living in Kelowna – The date was December 14th and the Christmas rush was in full swing. However, I was able to book a flight, arriving in Birmingham, where my elder brother picked me up, for the drive to the small village of Whittington where Mum was staying with my other brother and his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the next week, I stayed by my Mother’s bedside day and night hoping this visit by her youngest son, may somehow help. – Then one night we heard carol singers outside the house, and we opened the window so that Mum could hear – this was an unbelievable moment, and she began to smile, being Welsh Mum loved to sing and had often been a Carol singer herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Mum improving, I was able to book a return flight to Canada not easy, with the timing being close to Christmas.- Things were very chaotic and I could only get a reserved seat to Vancouver on Air Canada and would then need to fly PWA to Kelowna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well ! the West coast was all fogged in at this time which added to the problem, but I did arrive in Vancouver on Christmas Eve, only to get told I was on standby to Kelowna and my number was #32 !!!! Not what I wanted to hear. (Although #32 is Stevie Bakers racing number)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I was sitting in the departure lounge, feeling very dejected and worn out from lack of sleep – I noticed the Flight Crew walking through and recognized the Captain as an old Trials riding buddy – Dave Crerrar, – I had not seen Dave for some time, but quickly pushed my way through the crowd and said Hello!! – “Hi Dave he said” – you on this one?” – “Well I would sure like to be “- I replied and explained my problem. – “Oh ! you can sit up front with us, he said – ( I could hardly believe my luck) – Dave then got the OK from security, and I followed them onto the Boeing 737 – strapping myself into the jump seat behind Dave the pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With head phones on – I listened as Dave talked to the Control Tower – he was told a 747 was going out ahead of us and that should blow away some of the fog !! – After some delay, we were allowed to taxi out and lined up on the runway dimly lit by the lights through the fog. – Then it was a big roar and full power for take off – zooming up above into the clear night sky – after a few minutes Dave’s voice came into my ear phones — “So do I get a clean for that Dave?” – Well! I’m sure glad you didn’t get a “Five”- I said – And that is how I was able to get home on Christmas Eve 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– A true story and a miracle of Christmas. –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FOOTNOTE. – Hard to believe that was 40 years ago. – I also sold Dave Crerrar a Gas Gas trials bike, at a later date, but lost touch with him, although he was living in Vernon at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mum recovered and lived until the age of 93 – she died in 2003 that is the last time I was in the UK to attend her funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Answer to the last quiz – Jon Luc Nictou – most of our regular bloggers got it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
============================================<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is of course Christmas Eve and Babs and myself wish you all the very best for the Holiday Season Because of the date, I have told a story from a time long ago. =========================================== It was at this time, back in 1985 that I got a call from the UK to say my Mother… Continue reading Wednesday December 24th\/25<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11888"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11898,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11888\/revisions\/11898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outlawtrials.com\/davesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}