True North strong and... Flee
Okay, that's enough of a blogcation.
It's been 2 weeks since I've written anything new. Surely something must be
worth reporting. It's not like we're travelling.
Actually, I think that might have
something to do with it. Last year at this time we were in the middle of one of
our best vacations ever - a trip to the sunny southwest with stops in Arizona,
Nevada, California, and Mexico. And when we returned home, not only was winter
on the wane, but we had cheated it of two weeks of misery by escaping south.
Well this year, winter is having its
revenge, and I'm so utterly depressed by the unending snow that I don't feel
like doing anything - let alone blogging. But this space needs an update, so
here I am.
Last weekend we got hit with nearly
60 cm of snow. The view out our back window is now obstructed by the snow piled
high on our deck. That's a lot of snow! It's times like this that I envy my
sister for moving to Texas when she did.
I've always maintained that I could
handle a life in Canada - that the winters aren't so horrible that I need to
flee - but it's really starting to get to me. And while I think Mel and I are
agreed that we'll winter in the south once we retire, I don't think I can wait
that long. Maybe it's time we start looking at moving more permanently.
In 2005, when we came back from
Malaysia and Singapore, Melvin floated the idea of moving there to live and
work. Of course we'd have to look into their immigration laws, but from a cultural standpoint,
Singapore would be very easy to adapt to. It's one of the most westernized
Asian countries - with lots of shopping malls and fancy restaurants. Pretty
much everyone speaks English, as a first or second language. It would probably
be feasible for me to find a communications position there, and for Mel to find
social work. And it's warm year round!
Maybe we'll revisit the idea in a
couple of years - once Mel gets his Social Work degree and I have spent a
little more time learning Cantonese (it's slow going, but it's sticking). I can
probably wait that long. But it's hard to stomach 14-day forecasts that still
look like this at the end of March - note the 9 straight days of
precipitation!:
I know that it's possible winter just SEEMS longer this year because we didn't go away, but you can be sure that, until we leave for good, we'll be planning regular vacations towards the end of winter from now on. It's the only way I'll be able to stay sane.
