Thursday, August 21, 2014

Let's talk about the weather.

I'm Canadian and I've been told somewhat recently that one of the odd features about us is that we talk about the weather.  A lot.  Now, I cannot attest for all Canadians, so I don't know how general that stereotype is, but I know it's true for in and around where I live.  Conversations about the weather are not simply small-talk but sometimes serious, life-or-death (well, maybe that's extreme, but they get close!) conversations.

The weather in my area is never constant.  Sometimes, we cycle through four different types of weather in a span of a few hours: cloudy-sunny-rainy-sunny-snowy.  As such, we talk about what the weather will be, why it's being so weird (or not weird), and will take time to relish a truly beautiful day.

Lately, the ho-hum about the weather is all negative. "This summer is too cold."  "This summer is too rainy."  "This summer is terrible."

Why is it that we always complain and long for what we don't have?

I feel like a lot of people have forgotten that last summer and the summer before were sometimes "too hot."  I mean sit-around-naked-without-moving-and-you-still-sweat hot.  I worked at a golf course last summer and the irrigation guy gave a report in August saying that they pumped more water last year (2013) than in 2012 by a long shot.  It was crazy-hot.  And people complained. Now people are complaining that it's too cold, but we still have days that reach, at the lowest, 20-23°C going up to 29° at the highest--and that's without the humid-X.  Sure, it may not be as hot as it's been in previous years, but that's still short and t-shirt weather.  Plus, with the horrendous winter we had this past year, how can a cooler summer come as a surprise?  Someone told me that the last time we got that much snow was 40 years ago.  All that water hanging around was bound to have a backlash.  It doesn't just disappear come spring.

In any case, I thought this summer was fine.  It never got too hot, which was great because I, like many others, work outdoors.  And despite it raining every week, there were plenty of sunny days for other activities.

You win some, you lose some, eh?

Enjoy what's here, while it's here.

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