Wow Factor

Well I am back from my trip to Toronto to the accessory trade show. This show is for the trade only and is held twice a year in Toronto. This trip was a bit different. I am sure most of you heard that Toronto had a huge thunderstorm with plenty of lightning, wind and rain last Sunday evening. My husband Jerome and I were just returning to the hotel we were staying at from dinner around 8pm when the storm struck. The restaurant we had dinner at was a short distance from the hotel so it only took minutes to drive there. As we approached the intersection where the hotel is, we could see two fire trucks blocking the intersection and the 4 hotels on that corner were all in darkness. It turns out there had been a lightning strike that took down a hydro pole and there was a “live” wire laying on the street sparking. At first we thought it was the flares that emergency personnel use but after taking a second look I realized it was a “live” hydro wire. At the hotel it was completely in darkness with the small exception of some emergency lighting. We were told there was no way to get to our room at the moment unless we wanted to climb 9 stories in the dark and 30 degree temperature. So back to our vehicle we go and we drive a short distance to the Tim Horton’s along the airport strip and sit in our vehicle for 90 minutes watching the most amazing “natural fireworks” looking out over one of the large runways at Pearson International Airport. Now my husband just loves this kind of storm, the more lightning the better for him. I, on the other hand, hate them. I confess I am a chicken in this kind of storm and can’t wait for them to end, although I have to admit, the sky does look amazing when you see one of the wide spread sheet lightning and then two or three bolts go shooting across in front of you. It occurred to me that no matter how talented a designer I think I am, someone up above does a better job with the WOW factor!! By-the-way, we didn’t get power in the hotel until noon the next day. So no air conditioning, no hot water for showers in the morning and worst yet, no power for the hair dryer!! I will give you an update on the trade show in a future blog posting.