Planes, Diapers and Josephus

We enjoyed an unexpected six hour layover in the Calgary airport on our return from Portland, thanks to the unparalleled service of Air Canada. To be fair, I neglected to double-check the posted departure time against our itinerary until ten minutes before leaving for the airport. Although we still arrived at check-in just under an hour before the posted departure time, the special Air Canada check-in line was closed, and we missed our outgoing flight. We then missed our connecting flight from Vancouver to Regina, etc., etc.

The layover gave me just the opportunity I needed to finish the final volume in the Loeb Classical Library edition of Josephus. I began working through the original Loeb edition of Josephus seven years ago, while I was a visiting research student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The first three volumes--Josephus's life, the Contra Apion, and the Jewish War--are forever connected in my mind to the commute on bus number 19 between our apartment on Ushishkin street in downtown Jerusalem, and the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University. (There is nothing like reading Josephus's description of Herod's temple and the first Jewish revolt while riding around the enormous site of the temple mount.) That the remaining six volumes of the Jewish Antiquities took much longer to complete, I attribute to the massive reduction in commuting time after our return from Israel and eventual move to Saskatchewan. If you have ever visited Caronport, you will know what I mean.

The layover in Calgary also gave me the chance to conduct an impromptu survey about diaper sales on concourse A. My advice to parents of newborns: Plan for a day-long layover, and throw in a couple extra diapers for other parents in need. Oh, and avoid Air Canada if possible--they don't offer complimentary diapers.