No Ordinary Day at the Office

July 8th 2011 was the morning of the historical launch of the last shuttle mission ever, STS-135. My friend A. joined me to watch it on a big screen. After a nerve-wracking countdown stop at T-minus 31 seconds, Atlantis took off flawlessly. It was an exhilarating moment: the last launch of the shuttle era.

At noon, I got an email from my friend J.: “Picking you up at 1:00. We’re going to SkyVenture.” Oh? Oooooook. We’d been planning on going for 2 years but never found the time. Today was it! Rush home to change and prepare. SkyVenture is a wind tunnel that reproduces free fall conditions. In other words, you get to fly. Cool!!!!
It was my first time ever in a wind tunnel and I had a blast. If it wasn’t so expensive, I’d really enjoy doing that regularly. What the instructors can do when let loose in the tunnel is simply breathtaking. Gravity no longer exists. You have to see it.

As if this was not enough emotions for one day, J. and I then headed to nothing less than the U2 show at the especially set-up open-sky stadium on Montreal’s hyppodrome’s site. Eighty thousand people converged to the spot. It was a hot summer evening and I thought that should it rain a bit, it would be rather pleasant. Eighty thousand people in an cheerful and partying mode... it was a thrilling experience.

Photo: J. Hébert

I will skip on J. suddenly realising his memory card did not fit his brand new camera and our mad dash to find another memory card in time. One is never bored with J. We succeeded and the show was fantastic. Feeling the aluminum bleechers pulsing and waving under our feet like the deck of a boat on a rocky sea, 50 feet in the air, was also an experience. Several people had to leave because of that, either afraid or feeling sea sick.

Photo: J. Hébert

On the last note of the last encore, it started to rain lightly. What incredible timing! Then it rained harder. Within two minutes, the skies opened up and eighty thousand people suddenly found themselves scrambling under a torrential rain as heavy as India’s worst monsoon. We got soaked down to the bones in a matter of minutes, and the rain was cold and an icy wind swept over the site. Suddenly, people were freezing, teeth chattering, their skimpy summer outfits clinging miserably to their bodies, offering no protection whatsoever.

It was a surreal end to an extraordinary show. It was funny, it was crazy, it was freezing, and it never let down. Holding on tight to each other, J. and I walked back the mile to the car, our faces, hair and clothes completely drenched. “Watch out! There’s a puddle! Don’t get wet!” we would joke while walking ankle deep in the water on the street.

This, my friends, was my day, on July 8th, 2011.