It is Friday night and we were waiting for our grandson to fly in as the first of all the family to show up for the holidays.  Great weather as it is 7° C and a light drizzle.  Problem is that this means foggy conditions in the evenings.  We are not talking of London Fog where you cannot see 100 m but just foggy.

Unfortunately this is a big issue at the local airport. A very controversial issue.

At the ocean end of the main runway are a few homes with views to the sea but with tall stands of fir trees on the inland side of their properties.  Problem is the trees are more than 150 feet high.  They were not that big when they moved in but now they are.

The military does not have a problem with, but Transport Canada, for civilian flights, says when there are foggy conditions planes cannot land with these trees this height.   The authorities are going through the steps to legally require the few home owners to top their trees, but for some reason the property owners are fighting it tooth and nail.  We have driven down the street and cannot understand why they would not top them as it is not that big an issue.  The airport authority is going through courts to require the topping, but as usual  it takes years.

We have warm moist conditions much of the winter (the warmth is why we retired here) .  Last month alone 81 flights had to turn back even though they could see the runway, but the trees at the end were too tall.

Tonight we were expecting our grandson and the fog was not that bad, but the flight had to return to Calgary.

At the airport there were families expecting their loved ones to arrive, but because of maybe 3 obnoxious families the flights were turned back.

Apparently the owners  the end of the runway do not care what they have done to hundreds of families in the valley who have missed relatives flying in over Christmas due to their stand on the trees.  Typical rich guys.

So I am thinking of hiring retired special forces guys to sneak on the properties and wrap detcord about half way up the trees and blow them off.

Pat reminds me that we do not have the money to hire these guys (although in the movies, this seems so easy)  Still I am angry and tonight in bed I will think of many other things to do to these homeowners that blocked our Grandson from visiting us.