Paul Alton MBA

May found us still in Edmonton carrying on living with our daughter and her family while I continued to work night shift at an oil refinery near Edmonton. Early in April when the job started it was still dark when we got off shift. By the end of May the sun was just peeking over the horizon as the night shift crew walked to the parking lot. Those mornings, approaching the outskirts of the city the downtown building looked like El Dorado as they reflected the sun’s gold. By the end of May sunrise was over before we were off shift.

Being in Edmonton we got to experience more of the Edmonton grands than we can from Saskatchewan. Mostly Juanita, but I got a few opportunities as well. Mostly soccer for me, but she attended an Awana session and a poetry recital in addition to more face time during the days.

The job lasted until the last Friday of the month. I had the usual Wednesday off that week. Juanita went home to Meadow Lake on the Thursday. I followed Saturday afternoon. The shift ended at 5:30 on Saturday morning. I felt great and ready for a drive home but knew that energy would fade somewhere on the five-hour drive.

Better to go back to our daughter’s and sleep until noon. Besides, If I left later, the fish store would be open, and we would have goldfish in our pond at home again.

Also, a check engine light had appeared on the truck dash on the way to the last shift. I cleared the code in the parking lot and it hadn’t come back on the way to our daughter’s in the morning. One cause could be the air filter. When I got there, I checked. Yup. Needs changing. So there was the plan – sleep, buy and install air filter, but fish, leave for club Meadow.

Like last month, my one day off a week was Wednesday. Well, evening off, but you know what I mean. This month we managed to eat a few restaurant meals on the Wednesdays, attend some soccer games, take a dinner cruise on the local riverboat, The Edmonton Queen, and spend an afternoon in Elk Island National Park. Not to mention strolling through West Edmonton mall on our way to lunch and to check out the last dribs and drabs of the Hudson’s Bay close out sale.

The Edmonton Queen was a pleasant couple of hours cruising the river in a paddle wheeler. The buffet was decent and the view was interesting. Seemed like we had the river pretty much to ourselves. The river traffic is said to be busier and more varied on summer weekends.

Elk Island National Park has routes you can drive that give a good chance of seeing Bison as close as you’d want to. We enjoyed hiking a few of the many trails. Not much in the way of bugs this early in the year. Apparently, the mosquitoes can be notable mid summer.

That pretty much sums up the month. That’s what happens with working six ten-hour shifts a week and driving a total of an hour and a half each day.

It was a good gig. It’s good to be done. It’s good to be home. For a few weeks 😉