Making It Up As I Go Along #473

Summerless
Today is August the 9th and it’s the first time I’ve heard a national weather person actually specify what I’ve been hearing out of St. John’s for months… no summer.

I tuned in to the St. John’s CBC feed and heard that, since June, there have been a total of ten days where no rain has fallen in St. John’s. And the temperatures have regularly been in the 10 to 15 degree range. Yet, from a national point of view, this nine weeks of dreary weather has gone largely ignored.

Sure, the St. John’s weather gets mentioned each day during the National Forecast segment of the news… but it’s been one offs. They hadn’t tabulated the numbers nationally.

And it got me thinking what the difference in reaction would be had the summer St. John’s has been enduring was in Toronto instead.

For one, there’d be fancy entry graphics and music every time the story would be introduced on the national news… and that introduction would come at the top and bottom of every hour.

Indeed, menacing, horror music with images of bundled Torontoians trudging through the streets… with stories displaying hard done by businesses, dependent on the summer tourist dollar.

Wrestler style mayor, Rob Ford, would angrily be blaming the weather on those left wing, climate change pinkos. He’d proclaim, once and for all, that climate change does not exist… indeed… how could it? Not when Toronto has it so bad.

And no Toronto tragedy would be complete without a Live Aid style concert. Where else will the city get the money lost from the reduction of café patio clientele?

The government would supplement the cost of bringing back the Rolling Stones. Coldplay would join them… giving lead singer, Chris Martin, a chance to wax on into his microphone… telling the people of Toronto to be strong… before breaking in to the ever inspiring “Fix You”.

Alas, St. John’s is not Toronto. And the national attention has been non-existent. Rather than a major news push with theme music and custom graphic intros, we see an interview with the local softball scheduler on the regional broadcast. And even he isn’t speaking with alarm over the tragic loss of the season. It’s more of a subdued acceptance with a touch of optimism.

“We got lucky during the tournaments… it didn’t rain too much then.”

And when asked if he’d ever do the scheduling again, after such a horrible summer, he answered “well I’ve done it this long, I’m sure I’ll manage.”

Brave soul. Oh how I admire you. How the rest of the country would admire you too… if only the national news were to acknowledge your existence. If only Chris Martin could see you. The shame of it all.

The tragedy extends beyond softball however. The local news goes next to a beach. Where water slides sit empty and the grasses grow over as if covering up a long forgotten artifact of a past civilization. The manager of the place stands in front of the cameras, chuckles, and says “b’y, it’s pretty quiet it’s true.”

Does no one see the pain? How will he put food on his family’s table? Send in the Stones… for the love of God! Send in the Stones.

A tourist is found in a restaurant. She smiles and says “It’s pretty cold.”

Ironically, this tourist is from Toronto. She doesn’t realize how close to a benefit concert she came… if only the weather gods had struck down her city instead of her vacation spot.

It seems the only people outside of Newfoundland who have any feeling for the pace that summer forgot are those who are originally from there. The rest of the nation is blissfully unaware. And all I can do is offer my bed to family and friends, pleading with them to leave the island, if only for a few weeks. Get some summer in ya, ya poor things. You may not get a benefit concert… but you’ll be able to slap on a t-shirt and some sun block. And you’ll be able to know for sure, that at least someone on the mainland is thinking of you.


TUESDAY…
--- Work… bloody day shift. Hate waking so early. Still make it okay.
--- From work to physio makes the day long and drawn out. Not home for the night until 8:00. Quite a while after leaving the house at 5:20 this morning.

WEDNESDAY…
--- Nasty day shift. Ugh. But lunch with Annick, Shannon and Sarah is fun and supper out with Janice a good way to unwind.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY…
--- Nights at work. Very busy on Thursday… I work pretty non-stop until 2:30 in the morning. Sort of busy Friday, but much less so. By the end of work Saturday morning, I’m pretty tired and ready for some time off.

SATURDAY…
--- Up around 10:30 and feeling sort of jet lagged. Some TV and laziness.
--- The battery on my blackberry is becoming unreliable. Fully charged when I wake at 10:30… yet dead by 2:00 in the afternoon. Yesterday it was fine all day. My only thought it that I likely left a webpage working when I closed my browser and it kept working for an hour. Who knows? Can’t wait for my blackberry contract to end this winter.
--- Two laps of the pond and the phone is fine after the second charge. Maybe it was something left running. A few movies and some baseball round out the night.

SUNDAY…
--- Pretty quiet day. Mostly around the house watching movies. Lost in Translation remains one of my five favourites… and Deathproof remains a hoot.

MONDAY…
--- Buy a shredder today. Getting rid of old bills now. Also off to Physio and some groceries with a walk of the pond. Pretty hot out there.