I love Miami Beach. Even in February, it is hot (but not humid, much like our Manitoba summers here in Canada). The tropical heat is a welcome break from winter. On the day we left, it was 40 below (F) in Winnipeg and 80F (about 25C) in South Beach. This was our 11th trip and we settled into our usual routine - wife window shopping, me running the beach. This past February, I was feeling full of energy and would often run a couple of miles twice a day. The hill at the new South Pointe Park was a good challenge and made my runs all the more difficult. The only problem was, my right hand seemed to have a life of its own. After a strenuous run, it would start vibrating and then shaking. It only lasted a minute or so and if it didn't stop on its own, I could force it to stop by squeezing my thumb and finger together. I showed my wife and we laughed. I chose to ignore it as much as possible and kept running that hill. Sometimes my hand would dance, other times it did not and the 2 weeks went by too quickly.
We left Miami International at about 2 in the afternoon. We had to be diverted over the gulf coast because a space ship was landing (only in Florida) but the rest of the flight was uneventful. It was clear most of the way, which is not all that great because you can literally see the changing of the seasons beneath the plane. Winter began again over the northern states and we knew what would be waiting for us in Toronto - snow and cold. What we didn't expect was fog. We began our descent. We were flying through a cloud flecked with snow. I noticed on the TV screen that we were 1000ft from the ground when the engines powered up and it felt like we began climbing vertically at several hundred miles per hour. After a few minutes of climbing, our pilot informed us that we had been too close to the plane landing before us and consequently, we would have to fly to Montreal to refuel...?????.... That still makes no sense to me but apparently we were going to Montreal and we did. I began to get annoyed. If we had enough fuel to fly to Montreal, why couldn't we just circle and try the landing again? I noticed a slight tremor in my hand.
We landed in Montreal some time later and after a lengthy stay on the tarmac, we were airborne to Toronto, this time without incident. My hand calmed down. We missed our connection to Winnipeg and were put up in a hotel, but to get to that hotel, we would have to wait outside for the shuttle. Just a few minutes. It wasn't Winnipeg cold but it was cold. I only had on a spring jacket and I began to get chilled, and really, really annoyed, as those few minutes droned on. By the time an hour was up, my hand was out of control - bouncing around like a fish out of water. Now to control it, I had to ball my hand into a fist and squeeze. When that didn't work, I put my hand in my pocket, out of sight from the curious crowd.
We finally got to the hotel and I went to sleep. A normal 2.5 hour trip had taken almost 8 hours. Sleep came quickly and when I awoke my hand was behaving itself but by then, my wife and I decided I should get it looked at.
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