It ain't half hot mum

It's been uncommonly warm here this week - I'm not sure exactly, but I think it must have only been something like -4 or -5 today - and whilst that may sound cold, in relative terms it feels decidedly tropical. Today was truly gorgeous, and even though I've been here for some eight months now I'm still struck by the town's beauty, especially on days like today.

However, such mild weather does have a downside. During the winter months there are few, if any, problems with insects and bugs - Little Miss Muffet could have eaten her curds and whey without fear of interruption had she come to work in the North - but when winter starts to give way to spring the flies return with a vengeance, and it's then that you wish that there actually were a few spiders in town.

When I left to go on my walk today I was confronted by a business of flies - did you know that 'business' is the accepted collective noun for flies? - on the inside of my outside door (if that makes sense), and when I returned later in the afternoon I had to swat two intruders that had had the temerity to take up residence in my kitchen. Not as bad as my experience of a couple of years ago though; when I came back North after the summer holidays I entered my house and found the blinds on the dining room window literally covered with flies. We're talking dozens and dozens and dozens. Traditional swatting was never going to work, so I plugged in the vacuum cleaner and simply sucked away the problem. Genius!

Emptying the bag was interesting though.

Highs and lows

We've been having some bizarre weather over the past 24 hours. Last night was a balmy -5°C, and earlier today the temperature had risen to -2°, which is ridiculously warm for this time of year, the seasonal norm being anywhere between -21° and -30°, according to Environment Canada. However, the wind picked up in the afternoon, and at the time of writing on Wednesday evening we now have a mini-blizzard outside and a temperature of -25°. It's hardly four seasons in one day I know, but at least it keeps things interesting.

Talking of interesting things, it just keeps on getting better for Canada at the Olympics. Today the men's hockey team pulled off a remarkable 7-3 thrashing of Russia to book a place in the semi-finals, there were silver and bronze medals in the speed skating, and then in the women's two man bobsleigh - if that's not a contradiction of terms - Canada came home first and second to take the country's gold medal tally to seven, which ties Germany and the USA at the top of the table in this Olympics and also matches Canada's all-time best at a single Winter Olympic Games.

If the women's team can overcome the USA in their hockey final tomorrow night then this will officially become Canada's best ever Games in terms of gold medals, not bad considering all the gloom and doom of earlier in the week; perhaps we could start thinking about owning the podium after all. Or maybe we should just lease one.

Taking flight

Well, all things being equal I fly home tomorrow (the 17th), which is also the same date that the Wright Brothers made their first flight back in 1903. I just hope that my flight lasts a little bit longer than theirs.

As as I write the weather forecast for tomorrow is not encouraging though, and if we do fly it looks as though it will be a bumpy ride. This time last year we were grounded by mechanical failure rather than the weather and I don't want a repeat of those frustrations again, but there's no use in fretting over things that are out of my control. So I shall think positively, and hopefully my next posting will come from south of the tree line.

Snow day!

The week just keeps getting better!

We were forecast to have a blizzard both yesterday and today, and although it never really materialized we still got today off; the wind may not have arrived but the snow most certainly did! Never in my entire time in the North - or, for that matter, in my entire life - have I ever seen so much snow fall in a 24 hour period.

There's meant to be a phone tree in place in case the school is ever closed, but it didn't work this morning, which is understandable as trees don't grow this far north. Consequently I tried to get into school, but the snow at the back of my house was literally up to my waist! Having extricated myself I then saw a colleague of mine who had just found out that there was no school, so it was back home for an unexpected day off, which of course I filled with important work of a school-related nature.

Not.

That's snow business

It may have come about a week later than it did last year, but on the day of the vernal equinox we had our first snow of the season today, moving us directly from summer into winter without passing 'Go' and without collecting $200.

I've been wanting to climb one of the hills that surround the village ever since I've got here, but aside from the weekend when I was ill (typical!), all our weekends have been terrible weather-wise so I haven't had the chance. Those hills look more like mountains now that they have their cover of snow, but if I'm feeling brave I might still try to mount an expedition this weekend.

Weather permitting, of course.

The heat is on

Things are hotting up here at the moment, both literally and metaphorically. The temperature climbed to +1° yesterday, which felt almost tropical when you apply the Law of Relativity (that's my Law of Relativity, not the other guy's). I was able to walk to school with coat unzipped and my stride was most certainly on the jaunty side of normal; temperatures are set to drop over the remainder of the week, but at least for now it feels like spring is most certainly here and summer is on its way.

However, to offset the good weather, problems with the internet have most certainly been making most of us decidedly hot under the collar over the past few days. We are now entering a fourth day without any service at home, and I'm writing this using the connection at school, which thankfully is separate from the one that serves the town. It's at times like these that I realise just how much I rely on the net for information, entertainment and communication, especially in my relative isolation here, and one can only hope that we will be reconnected soon. It does mean that I can't possibly pay any of my bills online at the moment though, so every cloud does indeed have its silver lining!