Rosie Beaucoup Has Flown The Coop

Rosie Beaucoup has flown the coop - taken to the air in what was once poetically referred to as a silver bird, an airship, and is now known as just another Air Canada flight with sometimes indifferent, bored, and even sullen flight crew. Gone, alas, are the days of "laughter silvered wings". The flight from Halifax to Montreal provided movies but no ear phones - apparently, one has to bring them from home when flying to La Belle Province. I watched a Hindu film with occasional English subtitles that flashed across the bottom of the screen. And fared better on the flight from Montreal to Paris. With no one in the seat beside me, I netted an extra blanket and pillow, ear phones for this trip, and no one in the seat ahead so my cofee cup wasn't threatened every time someone leaned back to rest. It was also, on the plus side, one of the quietest overseas flights I have been on and it was easy to doze off a little. Of course, with the time change, the sun was shining brilliantly at about 2:30 a.m. Halifax time, and like a plant, I responded to the light and came to life, ready for the train ride from Paris to Lille.