Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2012-36

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Pat Moore reminds us of Newfies´ great kindness in the days of 9-11
• Jean Sterling comments on items in last week´s issue
• Kate Brookfield forwards examples of lapses in grammar and spelling
• Catherine Nesbitt sends the story of a mysterious ritual
• Rafiki tells of a unique way of selecting a successor
• Catherine also forwards a embarrassing moment
• Bruce Galway describes one solution to power outages
• Sites are recommended by Carol Hansen and Pat Moore

Pat Moore reminds us of the overwhelming hospitality shown by Newfoundlanders to stranded passengers when flights were redirected to the nearest airport after the 9-11 attack:

DELTA FLIGHT 15

Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11: I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far-away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world.

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about five hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta´s main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately - no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.

While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

We decided to lie to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland, to have it checked out.

We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that´s nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 p.m.!

There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that ground control in Gander told us to stay put.

The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the aircraft. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over, and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.

Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Centre in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator, who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Centre buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.

We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6:00 p.m., Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 a.m. the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident, despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal, where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.

After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.

Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander, and ended up having a pretty good time.

Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers, and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.

Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 km radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travellers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.

ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 km from Gander, where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes.

Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbours. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundromats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travellers. Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on, and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.

When passengers came on board, it was as if they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses.

And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said, "Of course," and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.

He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund was to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travellers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!

The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

CORRESPONDENCE

Jean Sterling writes about the video of a flight over the US in last week´s issue:

There was some great scenery - l loved the pictures of New York´s Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. However, those gorgeous pictures of Niagara Falls were of the Horseshoe Falls, which are on the Canadian side. The view from the American side is much more mundane - at least in my experience.

You appear to be doing just fine with your new computer. My husband talks about getting an I-pad. I would miss my full-size keyboard, but I guess laptops are the wave of the future.

Kate Brookfield forwards some grammar gaffes from the Toronto Star of September 1 sent to her by one of her ESL students:

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NEWSPAPERS DON´T USE PROOFREADERS

See if you know what´s wrong in these sentences:

1. They are peddling that bicycle faster, especially when they make mistakes, to achieve the same level of performance that low anxious or high anxious men have to do." (Online Life feature)

2. The brothers kept up the tradition of poking fun at each other, tossing barbs about each other´s athletic and fishing ability and fear of leaches. (GTA news story)

3. Preventing that from continuing, and trying to undue some of the damage, is why Waterfront Toronto was created in the first place. (Editorial)

4. A crowd of more than 400 ... was listening to Jason Farris, author of the book Behind the Moves: NHL GMs Tell How Winners Are Built, talk with (Brian) Burke, who penned the forward. (Sports story)

5. HMS Speedy was an 80-foot British warship that sunk in 1804 near Brighton, Ont. (GTA feature)

6. There was a Burt and Loni (Anderson) memorial suite, so designated by hotel president Hans Gerhardt, the penultimate gracious host. (Entertainment feature)

7. But fast forward 182 years to modern times and our lady has a taught derriere to fit into her "skinny" jeans. (Online news story)

8. Those who ran to their windows and out into their front yards found a bloodied man laying in a driveway at the edge of the street. (Online GTA news story, correct in paper)

9. Customer service reps know what they can trim or wave, such as applying a new promo code to save you some money. (Moneyville article)

10. It´s less clear what percentage of the available materials this represents, partly because consumers tend to horde hazardous materials. (Business article)

11. Whether it´s the washed-out, icy hues of the film´s colour palate or the sleet-slicked streets the frustrated movie star drives on dreary afternoons as a Toronto bus driver. (Movie review)

12. Yemen death toll of 2,000 dwarves rights groups´ estimates. (Online headline, correct in newspaper)

13. Yorkdale food court sneak peak: Upscale eatery opens June 2 (Online headline)

14. Facebook accused of privacy breech (Newspaper headline)

15. Neither of you are perfect; deal with it. (Headline)

ANSWERS:

1. It´s pedalling, as in, "feet on pedals," not peddling, as in "peddling their wares."

2. Leach is a verb. The aquatic bloodsucking worm is a leech.

3. The agency was created to undo, not undue, damage.

4. The introduction to a book is the foreword

5. The ship did not sunk, it sank.

6. Penultimate means second to last. It´s not the superlative of ultimate.

7. A derriere should be taut, not taught.

8. What was he laying? Presumably not the eggs thrown at the victim´s house, asked a reader. Lying is correct usage here.

9. Customer service reps might waive fees. If not, wave good-bye.

10. A horde of customers will hoard hazardous materials.

11. A palette of colour is pleasing to the eye. That flavour is too rich for my palate.

12. As a reader wrote, "The headline sounds like 2,000 little people were killed." Dwarfs is correct.

13. One takes a peek; one climbs to a peak.

14. Facebook was not caught with its pants down but it did have a security breach.

15. Neither is singular, so neither of you is perfect.

Unfortunately, nor is anyone at the Star perfect.

Catherine Nesbitt forwards the story of

A RELIGIOUS RITUAL

Every time a new Pope is elected, there are many rituals in accordance with tradition. There is one tradition that very few people know about.

Shortly after the new Pope is enthroned, the Chief Rabbi of Rome seeks an audience. He is shown into the Pope´s presence, whereupon he presents the Pope with a silver tray bearing a velvet cushion. On top of the cushion is an ancient, shrivelled envelope. The Pope symbolically stretches out his arm in a gesture of rejection.

The Chief Rabbi then retires, taking the envelope with him, and does not return until the next Pope is elected.

A new Pope´s reign was shortly followed by a new Chief Rabbi. He was intrigued by this ritual, and that its origins were unknown to him. He instructed the best scholars of the Vatican to research it, but they came up with nothing.

When the time came and the Chief Rabbi was shown into his presence, they faithfully enacted the ritual rejection but, as the Chief Rabbi turned to leave, His Holiness called him back.

"My brother," the Pope whispered, "I must confess that we Catholics are ignorant of the meaning of this ritual enacted for centuries between us and you, the representative of the Jewish people. I have to ask you, what is it all about?"

The Chief Rabbi shrugged and replied: "But we have no more idea than you do. The origin of the ceremony is lost in the traditions of ancient history."

The Pope said: "Let us retire to my private chambers and enjoy a glass of kosher wine together; then, with your agreement, we shall open the envelope and discover the secret at last."

The Chief Rabbi agreed.

Fortified in their resolve by the wine, they gingerly pried open the curling parchment envelope and with trembling fingers the Chief Rabbi reached inside and extracted a folded sheet of similarly ancient paper.

As the Pope peered over his shoulder, he slowly opened it. They both gasped with shock:

It was a bill for the Last Supper from "Moishe the Caterer."

Rafiki forwards this novel way of

CHOOSING A SUCCESSOR

A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you."

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued, "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil, and compost, and he planted the seed. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn´t have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by - still nothing in Jim´s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn´t say anything to his colleagues, however; he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn´t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what had happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach - it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the boardroom.

When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, and a few felt sorry for him.

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I´m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, and Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next chief executive officer! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn´t believe it. He couldn´t even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

"All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

Catherine Nesbitt sends this short story about

FAMILY PLANNING

Annie, six years old, gets home from school. She had had her first family planning lesson at school.

Her mother, very interested, asks; "How did it go?"

"I died of shame!" she answers.

"Karen from over the road, says that the stork brings babies. Sally next door said you can buy babies at the orphanage. Paula in my class says you can buy babies at the hospital."

Her mother laughs and asks, "But why were you so ashamed?"

"I couldn´t tell them we´re so poor that daddy had to make me himself!"

Bruce Galway forwards this clever idea for

SOLAR LIGHTS

I have a friend who used her solar lights inside the house at night when the electric power went off during a hurricane. She stuck them in jars and bottles and said they gave off plenty of "free light" in each room. She put them outside in the daytime and brought them back inside at night for several days while the power was off. They are safe to use and cheaper than batteries. She recommended we bring a solar light into our own house one night to test it for ourselves.

Due to a thunderstorm, we lost power for about five hours one night. We were scrambling around in the darkness, looking for matches, candles, and flashlights. Then we looked outside and noticed our solar lights shining brightly all around the patio, stairs and deck. My wife walked outside and brought several of the solar lights inside. We stuck the solar light pipes into plastic drink bottles and they made the nicest, brightest, safest lighting you could imagine. We put one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, and one in the living room.

There many types of solar lights available. We bought quite a few and put them all around our yard. They look nice and do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway. The lights we have fit into 20-oz. water bottles and also fit into most larger two-litre bottles. If you need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, put in a few of the colourful flat marbles they put in aquariums and vases. You can also use sand, aquarium gravel, or whatever you have available.

The solar lights we have are perfect inside our home. They burn all night when needed and next day we take them back outside where they recharge and are ready for use again when needed. Solar lights are the perfect light solution for power outages. I had never thought of it before seeing what my friend did, and now you know about this idea too.

RECOMMENDED SITES

Carol Hansen sends this link to a computer-generated reconstruction from the black box of the flight that ended in the Hudson River:

Carol also recommends this site for a video of Beauty, a bald eagle, getting a second chance with help from technology:

Carol has been busy this week! She also forwards this link to a graphic rendition of the successful landing on Mars by Curiosity:

Pat Moore forwards the URL for a video of babies eating lemons for the first time:

Mondragon in the Basque Country is the largest cooperative in the world and manages what other Spanish companies are struggling to achieve; bucking the trend by generating an annual turnover of 14 billion Euros despite the economic crisis. Its members sometimes work part-time and do not demand pay increases. Sometimes they even switch to another company for a limited period of time. Mondragon comprises over 100 firms ranging from machine tool manufacturers and supermarket chains to household appliance makers. Mondragon even has its own university and a bank:

Robert Neuwirth spent four years among the chaotic stalls of street markets, talking to pushcart hawkers and grey marketers, to study the remarkable "System D," the world´s unlicensed economic network. Responsible for some 1.8 billion jobs, it´s an economy of underappreciated power and scope:

To check out the features of the "freedictionary", which changes daily, go to