B.C. Ferries delivers a stellar performance

Re: “Keeping order all in a day’s work at B.C. Ferries,” column, Aug. 12.

After five hours at Victoria General Hospital emergency on Saturday afternoon of the long weekend, my wife, Charlene, was sent to a 3 p.m. Sunday appointment with Royal Jubilee Hospital’s on-call ophthalmologist.

She needed emergency eye surgery for a torn retina. With no one available in Victoria, he arranged for the on-call surgeon at Vancouver General’s Eye Clinic to meet us on arrival.

So, from Jubilee to Langford, threw stuff in a bag, then booted it for the ferry. We arrived at the ticket office about 4:50, not sure whether we’d make it at all. But I shouldn’t have been concerned for a second.

When I handed the agent a handwritten note torn from the ophthalmologist’s prescription pad, she called the tower, traffic was stopped, a few cars were shifted to another lane, and we were parked on the top deck next to an elevator. It literally brought tears to my eyes (like Jack Knox, I’m old, and the emotions are again close to the surface).

On the return trip — Tuesday morning, just to give Ferries the extra challenge — we arrived with a pink MSP slip from the Vancouver General Eye Clinic to an already overloaded sailing. However, our fare was somehow covered by MSP/Ferries, we were skipped to the head of the line, and were loaded and offloaded third.

Another absolutely stellar performance by the best ferry system in the world.

George Manning Langford