The airport in Gander, Newfoundland, is a busy place. Of course it is not as busy now as it was in the days when jet planes had to stop to refuel before heading out over the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. But if you visit Gander and stay for any period of time you become accustomed to the sound of the massive air buses soaring overhead, coming and going, at all hours.

Such was the case on a beautiful autumn day a few years ago. However the day was to be no ordinary day. A gargantuan airplane crashed just after takeoff, thankfully with no loss of life. Gander is well equipped to handle just such emergencies and handle it they did.

A young Canadian Broadcasting News reporter had been dispatched to interview the local people about their ‘take’ on the crash. She approached an older gentleman who she thought looked he would be willing to share his story of the mornings’ events. Sure enough, he agreed. The young reporter was new to our province of Newfoundland, new to her job, and wanted this story to be ‘perfect’, allowing her employer to witness her skill and presentation. So the interview began.

"Sir, could you tell us in your own words what you experienced this morning?" she asked politely.

The gentleman adjusted his cap, leaned into her hand-held microphone, and loudly proclaimed, "Well, I was in me garden, and I ‘eard this tump, eh?"

The young woman looked puzzled, put the microphone near her own face and asked very graciously, "Excuse me Sir, but what’s a ‘tumpay?"

She now covers the news somewhere other than Newfoundland!!

Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe

"You don't become enormously successful without encountering some really interesting problems." Mark Victor Hansen