Here is a skill testing question. How many days has it been since you were evacuated? The days do seem to blend together, don’t they? So I thought maybe I would write down a few of my highlights.
Going from the airport on a bus to our downtown hotel, there were hundreds — no, make that thousands — of vehicles on the highway approaching midnight. Wow, it was a bit of culture shock. Then in a residential neighbourhood, stopped at a street light seven scooters go by in single file.Young adults out for a midnight scooter tour. Ok this was definitely not yellowknife.
The scooters are everywhere and I looked up. It cost a dollar and 15 cents to unlock them and then 35 cents a minute to ride them. I wonder how they would work at thirty below in the snow. It was all a little surreal and seemed like a scene from a movie like Men in Black.
I needed to get a root canal and my appointment in Yellowknife was history with the evacuation, but I wanted to get it done before it turned into an abscess or worse. Phoned the medical help line we had been given and was told it was for medical problems not dental ones. I tried to explain a dental problem was a medical problem, but they just didn’t listen.
So I phoned around and found an endodontist who fit me in on short notice and did the work. Turns out, she had some in-laws in Yellowknife. Big thank you to Doctor Mackenzie.
I didn’t bring a pair of hair scissors with me and my moustache needed a trim. So for the first time in over fifty years I went into a barber shop. They fixed me up and I can eat now without wearing half of it. I survived the experience and reckon I’m good for another 50 years.
In our hotel room I went to the washroom at six in the morning. Suddenly heard a seriously loud noise and some other rather strange ones. Whump, bang crash thump thump. It sounded like ice falling. Came out of the washroom and the door to our mini fridge was swinging open. There was a burst frozen can of pop laying on the floor, which had started an avalanche of things in the fridge.
Those are just a few of the memories I will have of the great evacuation of 2023. Also the people in Alberta have been so nice and helpful the NWT really should build a monument to thank them, along with all the firefighters and volunteers who have helped a significant portion of the NWT population to get through this.
Life is an adventure and a learning experience and a whole lot of us have learned what it’s like to be an evacuee. When this is all over I hope we learn from the experience and thank you Alberta for taking us in.