Do miracles happen ? Last September was a rather exciting time for me for I was going to fly out to Canada to visit a friend whom I had met on the internet. I had "chatted" on the internet with Tom for over two and a half years and we got to know each other so well. I knew all about his family and his friends, his likes and his dislikes. We used to e mail photographs to each other, and even send moving slide shows via e mail. However I thought it was about time that I met Tom and his family, so I booked a flight from Glasgow with Zoom airways to fly me from Glasgow to Calgary. Then I had to book another flight via the internet that would take me from Calgary to the city of Lethbridge, which is in the state of Alberta. I managed to book a flight with Central mountain air through Air Canada. Well, the big day had arrived it was now the 17th September 2005 and I was filled with an excitement and anticipation. However things did not go to plan at first and it was a rather stressful and worrying experience for me at first. At Glasgow airport, once on board the Zoom airplane and settled in waiting for take off, waiting for that big blue mechanical bird to zoom me up heavenward into the sky and fly me off to Canada. Well not a lot was happening ! The pilot could not get the plane to start ! He tried several times, but nothing happened, just a lot of noises and nothing else ! However the pilot had to call in for the technicians and engineers to come to our aid. One hour later we finally managed to take off and were soon up there in the clouds. I did not feel all that comfortable at the thought of the plane having had some engine problems, least little unusual noise coming from the plane and my ears were pricking up "What the hell is that ?" I would think to myself ! Well after some time I started to relax, but was always checking my watch, now I was starting to get a bit worried. I had a connection flight to catch at Calgary, but by the looks of things I was not going to catch that flight. The pilot did announce that he would try to make up for lost time, but we never really caught up with any lost time. I was a very worried man . I am not a very religious person, but in my mind I was having a conversation with "God" ! "Oh God please help me to catch my connection flight, please do not make this holiday of mines be a disaster, please make some miracle happen so that I will catch my flight okay." ! All this was going through my mind. I was really worried, it spoiled the enjoyment of my flight. The Zoom airplane touched down at Calgary at around 14.35. My connection flight with Central mountain air from Calgary to Lethbridge was due for take off at 15.05. I was never going to make it. They would never allow me on the plane at this time. I had to go through customs, I had to reclaim my baggage. How on earth was I going to manage to do all this on time ? Well the first "miracle" happened ! I managed to get off the plane pretty quickly. The second "miracle" was that I had no hassle at all with the customs. I managed to get my baggage from the carousel fairly quickly. Now I had to rush to the Air Canada desk. I was so out of breath I could hardly talk to the young man who was at the desk. I tried to explain to him, and then said "I don't know what I am going to do if I miss this flight ?" The young Canadian guy was very nice about everything, he told me to calm down, and he would make sure that my baggage was booked onto the Central mountain air flight. he told me to hurry to the gate where the people were boarding. This was at around 14.45 and the flight was due to leave at 15.05 ! Heart pounding madly, and very much out of breath, I arrived at the proper gate. I was thankfully allowed on the plane. I started to relax and enjoy the 35 minute flight. I looked out of the window of the small plane, looked at all the plateau, and then the mountainous area below me. Then I looked at the fluffy white clouds in the sky and did not forget to thank him : "Thanks God...thanks for making it all possible for me." Cheers, Alex Kerr