Anyone reading my blog might think it is just about weather, but it's not. Canadians often talk about weather just for the sake of talking. Nothing wrong with that. It's safe and easy. What I have tried to do is link weather with real life. So here I go again.
Monday morning I was doing some work at home when I heard a huge metalic crashing noise outside. I ran to the window to find the caretaker's aluminum garden shed scrunched against my van, looking very much not like a garden shed. Wind gusts up to almost 150 kmh battered southern Alberta, with Medicine Hat reaching about 95 kmh. Obviously the poor little shed being held into the asphalt with two-inch screws -- seriously! -- couldn't take the battering wind. Fortunately the van had only sustained some nasty scratches. The neighbour's car missed being whacked by only six inches. It took the manager and myself a great effort to dislodge the disjointed shed from under and around the van after the neighbour carefully moved her car. Just as we dragged the shed away from the van another high-powered gust from the Rockies blew in and picked up the shed and hurled it 100 feet into the nearby park.About 15 years ago I saw an Australian documentary called "Last Train to Medicine Hat" about a reporter's ride across Canada. Whoever created the title obviously fancied the unique name of Medicine Hat. In it the reporter described the city as a windswept prairie town. Little did I know that two years later I would make this place my home.
Speaking of wind: In another time and another place during my half-century of life, I knew celebrated Canadian author Barry Broadfoot who always ended his newspaper column with ... and let the wind blow.
