Weather vs Climate

Earlier this year I spent some time in Nelson, New Zealand. Now there's a place with climate! Neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter, with miles and miles of perfect beaches. There are some places not unlike that on Vancouver Island. No doubt some of the more fortunate among us live in those idyllic places.

Ottawa, on the other hand, is beset -- no, plagued -- with an excess of weather. Of winter weather that's too cold and so dry that the skin peels right off your lips. Closely followed by summer weather so hot & humid that you simply can't take off enough clothes. Right now, we're having what's laughingly referred to as "spring". The switch flips between rain, snow, sun and wind almost without notice. It's still too soggy now to get in the garden, but in just a couple of weeks the ground will be dry and starting to bake hard. Then it will be hotter than tolerable until sometime in September when the switch will flip back in the other direction. And winter will be upon us again, for somewhere between 6 and 8 months. I think I've been here too long. Surely 32 years is plenty? I don't remember signing up for life...although I did choose to come here originally. I just never thought that it would be forever.

Apart from the weather and the politicians (more on them another time), both of which we love to hate, Ottawa is a great place. Lovely green spaces, abundant art, music and culture, and interesting people everywhere you turn. I suppose if it wasn't the weather, it could be something worse. We're pretty lucky on the whole. So I'll quit my whining...for now. I'll rant about the political climate another time.