If You Can’t Stand the Heat…

Oddly enough, some of the biggest changes we felt moving to Vancouver from Boston were the weather.

First it was the weather patterns themselves. Boston’s weather was mercurial - not in terms of moving the mercury of the thermometer around a lot (although it did, to a degree), but in the true sense of the word. The days were changeable, constantly varying, unpredictable. The old joke went: If you don’t like the weather in Boston, wait 5 minutes. Vancouver introduced us to the meteorological equivalent of the long now. Is today sunny and pleasant? Then that’s how it will be outside, for a couple of weeks. Is it dark and rainy? Then expect the same for the rest of the month. Weather here doesn’t really change here; it slowly morphs from one steady state to another. If climate could be say, musical styles, then Boston weather was Miles Davis doing be-bop. Vancouver weather is Bruckner, or perhaps Philip Glass.

The second change was, of course, the different winters. In Boston, December through March was snowy, cold, and dark, with occasional invigorating, bright white days. Here, it is milder, rarely getting below freezing for more than a dozen hours, but accompanied by nearly constant rain and darkness. I thought that the latter might bring back my Seasonal Affective Disorder, which (I now know in retrospect) doomed much of the time I lived in Rochester, New York years ago to endless depression. Fortunately, I seem to have avoided a relapse, at least this year. (We’ll have to see about next year).

The third big difference has been this week. It’s not really the weather, but peoples’ reaction to it. For a few days now, the temperature has been in the mid to upper 20’s (Centigrade - that would be high 70s to low 80s in Fahrenheit). Everyone I’ve talked to here has been acting as if it was an oven out there. In Boston, these days would be the relief, not the punishment. The low humidity as well as cool breezes off the ocean make for utterly pleasant days, but to talk to some in my office or neighbors, you’d think we’re spending a week in Hades. I’ve been accused of being a bit fussy about temperature (Pam insists on the ‘Mind over Matter’), but sometimes I wonder if anyone here (except those from back East, of course), really knows what hot truly is.

True, there is less air conditioning here, although Pam and I both experience it at work. Here at home, we face north, and get no direct sun, so we no longer experience the sieges we used to have when we’d get one of those Boston heat waves (and our poor air conditioner couldn’t get the cold air to the top floor, where we tried to sleep.) I have no doubts whatsoever that Global Warming will be in effect for the rest of my life, regardless of any changes in the use of fossil fuels or other activities that might turn things around some day. If this was a hot summer, and the next decades will make them hotter still, I’m glad that I’ve at least moved northward. Who knows, in 20 years, the new temperate zone that we move to for retirement may be the Nunavut Territory.

Deja Vu all Over Again

Photo by Bruce Bennett from Canada.com

We realized shortly after we arrived in Canada that one of the keys to understanding Canadian culture is to follow and appreciate the sport - no, it’s greater than merely a sport, the Culture of Hockey. Hockey was invented in Canada, and ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ is probably the highest rated TV show in the country. I’ll bet it has been since it first aired. Typical conversation at work in the morning is about last night’s game (although for a lot of the younger programmers, these days they’ve been talking about UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship).

What was the best way to become a participant in this essence of Canada? I’m too old to learn to play the game and it is extremely demanding athletically. So, being well-informed fans will have to suffice. The best place to start becoming a real fan is to participate in the biggest games of the year: the Stanley Cup Playoffs - that’s the final championship where the winners of the year face off. Since Hockey is so big in Canada, it takes up nearly half of the year to get to that point. While the temperature outside is balmy, and we’re seeing marvelously long days ending sunset between 9 and 9:30, they are still fighting it out on the rink. March may be the month of madness for College Basketball, and late January/early February may be the time for the Super Bowl, but June is the biggest month for Hockey’s final 7 games. This year it’s particularly good to get initiated into rooting for Hockey in Canada, because the final 2 teams are the South Carolina Hurricanes versus the Edmonton Oilers. We get to root for Hockey and Canada! (It’s no stretch for us anyway. Hailing solidly from the Northeast, we were never big fans of the Carolinas. I know there are plenty of fine people in South Carolina, and some beautiful stretches of coastline, but I must confess that I always associated the state with monstrous industrial hog farms, Jesse Helms - and I know, he was from North Carolina - OK, Strom Thurmond, and Big Tobacco.)

The first game of the Stanley Cup was last night. We did it right, drinking beer and watching from beginning to end. I have to admit, the game felt somewhat familiar, at least emotionally. Let’s see, it started out well, with an early lead, that reached 3 to 0. But the other team fought their way back, and tied the score. In the final minutes, the Hurricanes not only won the game, but a key player for Edmonton, goalie Dwayne Roloson was injured and will probably be sidelined for the remainder of the playoffs. In short, it had all the elements of a Boston Red Sox game: Early confidence, a mid-game crumble, a devastating injury, and final ignominy. Gee, we feel perfectly at home, at least in terms of the arc of our sports team. Hockey, baseball, it’s not how you play the game, it’s how you lose, and we had nearly 15 years of learning how to lose in Boston. I only hope that we don’t go 15 years here without any team in Canada winning the Stanley Cup.

Showing Off Our New Home

If we do, in fact, live in an ‘alternate reality’, where tea parties and trips to feather our nest are the most memorable activities, then having witnesses might come in handy. This week, some old friends who were neighbors of our’s in Cambridge are in town. Glenn and Bethany have been treated to the best weather in months. Today’s Sun Run, a 10K race through Vancouver, was indeed a run in the sun. I could quibble about the temperature (about 11˚ or 12˚ C), but it really was a gorgeous day. The rhododendrons and azaleas are out, and the snow-capped mountains are clear.

While the news reports from the US are of more soldiers dead in Iraq, another message from Osama Bin Laden, and an over 60% jump in home foreclosures in the US, the scene here seems pretty idyllic. An alternate reality? Sometimes I do have to wonder.

One more Thing

Today marks the six month Anniversary of our move here. I was thinking of all that’s changed since then, and how we’re settling in and starting to enjoy a good life here. While I do miss our friends and neighbors from Cambridge, we have made friends here as well. Last night we had our next door neighbor over for dinner, and we’re taking it easy today before the week kicks into high gear. In another 6 months, I can see a little party. Maybe on the beach.

It’s Still Raining and Everybody has a Cold

When I got back to work after the holidays, I found out that several people had gotten sick over the vacation (in fact, one had his entire family sick and even made one trip to the doctor’s office). So, I guess it was lucky that I didn’t get a cold last week or the week before. Of course, in keeping with my out-of-synch health these days, I have a cold this week instead. I’m clearly not alone. Not only does blog after blog that I read tell of cold suffering, but every third commercial on tonight’s TV has been for cold medicines. The most intriguing one I’ve seen is a eucalyptus tablet that you put in the shower. Sort of a cross between a bubble bath and a vaporizer, I guess.

I’ll bet a lot of people get a cold this time of year. It’s been raining on and off for about 3 weeks, and it’s due to keep doing it for another 1 or 2, at least. I know, I know, I was warned. It’s actually not bothering me that much. The only real drag is if I happen to be out without an umbrella when there’s a break. My quota for getting caught in a downpour (and it’s not usually that strong) is 2 times in a week. As for the rain quota, we are now just about at the point where the accumulated precipitation is average for the year, as shown by the chart at the top. The one on the bottom shows what it’s been like, and as you can see, it has indeed been raining for 3 weeks (apart from a brief lull of drizzle right on New Year’s when we were out of town. Doh!)

Fortunately Pam hasn’t gotten a cold…yet.