With a co-worker on holidays, I had the chance to look after the Beefs and Bouquets section of the paper for a couple of weeks.
It had been some time, but didn’t take me long to get back into it, marvelling at the topics that bother people.
Dog owners who don’t pick up after their animals is always a favourite pet peeve of many.
The weather is also another favourite.
One beefer warned those complaining about this ‘bummer summer’ we’re having to be careful what they wish for. The next thing you know, we’ll be smack dab in the middle of a heat wave and suffering close to 40 C temperatures the rest of the country is experiencing.
I shouldn’t say rest of the country – the long-range forecast I read said Alberta to P.E.I. will be experiencing soaring temperatures.
I guess that makes Newfound-land and Labrador not the only ‘have-not’ province anymore. B.C. is not having a particularly good summer in terms of sunshine and temperature either.
That beef prompted a reply telling the original beefer that most people love the opportunity to hit the beach, water park or playground in the sunshine and hot temperatures, so quit living in November and let others wish for summer weather.
As for me, I’m backing the original beefer.
What have we had to complain about? The temperature has been around 18 C to 23 C every day. Except for one major thunder shower, we haven’t had a lot of rain. I know judging from the outdoor plants I have to water every couple of days there hasn’t been a great deal of precipitation. It seems there is always a cool breeze blowing keeping it comfortable.
You can do so much more outdoors with the weather we’ve been having. Try going for a run or a bike ride in the morning when the temperature is 23 C at 6 a.m. And you can forget about exercising after work when it’s hovering around 30 C.
Perhaps the warm-weather lover who beefed the beefer is a sun worshipper. A find a spot far from any shade, slap on the sun screen and park your butt for four or five hours kind of guy or gal.
To each his own, I suppose. But first, that lifestyle is not good for you. And second, who has the patience for that?
Give me a slightly sunny day with a cool wind blowing and watch what I can get accomplished outdoors. If it’s a tan you’re after, I guarantee you will be just as brown by the end of summer and have a lot more checked off your honey-do list.
A neighbour spent some time in Virginia during the heat wave back East and he said it was 39 C every day. That might be fun for about, say, 30 minutes, and then it’s just ridiculous.
You’re hot and sticky all the time no matter how often you shower. Everyone gets grumpy and tempers flare. Plants, animals and people die in those temperatures. Why would anyone wish that upon us?
And if that’s not bad enough, people start complaining about – wait for it – the weather and how they wish it was cooler.
Save yourself a whole load of grief – and not to mention sunburn – and make the most of what we have. After all, every day is what you make it, so make the most of it.
Mind, you, I say all this with my summer holidays still three weeks away and long-term forecasts predicting better weather for August and September.
Catch up with me after a week of biking the Sunshine Coast. If it has been windy, wet weather, see if I’m singing a different tune.
I don’t think so. We’ve spent some rainy days camping at Cape Scott in July and still enjoyed ourselves.
Besides, the Sunshine Coast is not Cape Scott. And if every day is what you make it – and the weather is not ideal – we might just make our way to a motel or bed and breakfast.