[Leica] Re: Back again

[Cummer Family <cummer@asiaonline.net>]

Hello Luggers,
In Hong Kong again after some adventures getting back from Chicago after
the WTC disaster. In Chicago had a coffee with lugger Greg Rubinstein and
visited Central Camera (where I bought my first rangefinder - an Argus C3 -
in 1955) but didn't find any used R or M equipment which appealed to me.
Was in Chicago for a conference and had the first inkling of trouble when
my son (who works for Merrill Lynch in HK) called while I was at breakfast
Tuesday morning and asked if I was watching CNN. I rushed up to my room and
found my wife standing in shock - she had seen plane two hit WTC 2 "live"
just minutes before. Having escaped several difficult situations (mostly
earthquakes in various parts of the world) I immediately went downstairs
and got the concierge to book us seats on Amtrack - the "Empire Builder" to
Seattle. My plans to return to Central Canada for business were cancelled
as my customers fled to the suburbs and rented buses to position themselves
for distant airports. Wednesday morning we went to Union Station and I must
say the Amtrack people were wonderful. Even with a reservation number it
took over an hour to get to a wicket to purchase the ticket, and senior
Amtrack people were there along the lineup answering questions the whole
while. Once on the train we contacted the sleeping car porter and were able
to buy a sleeper from Milwaukee to Seattle so my wife and I rode in some
comfort for the two nights and day and a half it took to reach Seattle
where my Vancouver office met us to take us back to Canada. The tailback on
the Canadian side into America was many miles long, but we crossed from the
US into Canada in about 20 minutes. In the dining car, everyone had a
story, and we ate well and watched the scenery roll by. The whole
experience, triggered by tragedy, was one we would not have had (it was on
the retirement list)ordinarily and it was a good experience. I hope Amtrack
has a resurgence of custom - I was pleased with their service. In Canada we
managed to sort out our plane tickets for a Sunday departure and missed the
extreme difficulties of getting the airport open on Saturday when it took
90 minutes to go through security and the airline lounges were closed. On
Sunday we checked in easily and it took about 30 minutes to get through
security, I was relieved of my razor blades and nail clippers and (on topic
at last) the Leicas were carefully looked at but there wasn't really a
problem. Still our takeoff time was delayed by about 4 hours. For the
future if I want to shave and clip nails I will have to put that stuff in
checked bags - even though I don't always check bags for short flights.
From now on I guess I will. Oh yes, also had a chance to talk by telephone
with Tom A in Vancouver which is always a pleasure.
Cheers
Howard Cummer.
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