Thursday, March 06, 2008

Hello Canada!


The crocuses are out, the tulips are coming up, the trees are in bud and motorcycle season has officially begun. Yipee!

What? Snow? No, no, no, no. OH, you have snow! Sorry to hear that. Snow, really? I mean we've got snow - if you look up on the mountains, plenty of it there. We just don't have any - down here where we live.

Am I supposed to feel shortchanged, missing out? Well not much I can do about it. I guess I'll just have to live with it. Maybe if I jump on my bike that'll make me feel better.

You guys are so damned lucky. Sheesh.

(the preceding message is known as "Vancouver Island Gloat," an annual rite of passage when people here in Lotusland run up their phone bills calling friends and relatives back east to ask how they're getting by. Five or ten seconds into it you've got the first mention of the crocuses out, then the tulips, then the trees, followed closely by a little whine about having to start cutting the damned lawn again. Then you enjoy the silence, the slow burn on the other end of the line. Finally you listen patiently to angry curses about the snow and driving and the G.D. shoveling driveways, expressing polite sympathies where appropriate, and then hang up knowing that, next spring, you'll get to do it all over again!)

p.s. it is spring.

Please feel completely free to leave your frozen-ass comments. Thanks for stopping by.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had two huge bumble bees in my Victoria window yesterday afternoon.

Anonymous said...

Wow!! There's nothing like one end of the country telling the other end haw, haw!! I don't have to wonder why there are wars and dislike from border to border. Gawd that's offensive and I live on Vancouvder Island.

Fish said...

Can you feel the vibes of hatred I am sending your way?

The Mound of Sound said...

Fish, I feel your pain, I really do. As an ex-pat Ottawan from the days when the place really defined "winter" I'm sure this year is tough to take. Try skating on the canal to keep warm! Rest assured, winter will yield to summer. I'll keep you informed when that happens. If you're really good, I'll send you some pics. Is it just me or did the robins return really early this year?

get ready for finals, Fish. They're just around the corner.

Cheers

The Mound of Sound said...

WaM0, I have it on reliable authority that our hummingbirds should be back in the next two weeks. The sacrifices, eh? Just how do we cope?

Fish said...

Actually, that's exactly what I'm supposed to be doing right now. I'm in the middle of clearing my assignments out of the way so that I can have all the free time in the world to attack my finals in April.

Tell you what, for nostalgia sake, how about I trade you the rest of my municipal law homework for some of that Vancouver island weather? The only catch is that I have to write all of my homework in French!

;-)

Oh well, it's back to work for me.

The Mound of Sound said...

Municipal Law? WTF is that? Exactly what is your major malfunction? Tell me you're serious, you're enrolled in something called Municipal Law.

Fish there's still time but none to spare. You need a jug of reasonably priced Scotch and the companionship of a woman of very loose morals. I'm sorry pal but there's no other hope. You, my friend, are out of options.

Fish said...

LOL - Mmmm Scotch and loose women! Is there any sweeter combination known to man?

Just so we're clear, municipal law is just a class I'm taking this semester, I'm enrolled in law school.

When I originally signed up for this class, I was kind of hoping it was going to be an easier one to lighten up my workload for the semester, but it turns out the assitant dean is teaching it and he's an ex-city councilor! So he's pretty hard core.

Also, every lawyer I've spent my summers working for has had a city contract (I have mainly worked in small towns), and since I will be articling with a small firm in a small town, it seemed to make sense to have a little knowledge of how municipal governments work.

It's actually susprized me though and turned out to be one of the more interesting classes I have this semester. It strikes me as more of an environmental law class than anything else, since we're learning about sustainable development, new urbanism and all that.

This semester I also have Advanced Evidence (taught by a local defence lawyer), Mortgages (yawn), insurance law (boring material but my favourite prof is teaching it), and criminal procedure, which is taught by a former superior court judge! (he may even have been a classmate of yours, he was pretty old!).

Don't worry about me though, I've had my share of alcohol/girl related fun over the last seven years of post-secondary education! Why do you think I'm staying up late to work on a Thursday night? So I can give Friday night my full attention!

Oh shit, back to work!