Umbrellas scare me. I just don't understand them.
First of all I grew up in Saskatchewan. That meant if it rained there was usually accompanying lightning and thunder. It meant you took cover lest you be the next standing target for a lightning strike. It seems to me that rain showers are fast and dirty in Saskatchewan. It goes something like this.
There is the hot sultry day. The white fluffy clouds build to raging black swirling masses of potential. The green wall of water would approach from the west. We would duck and cover. Within an hour it would roam past and we would be left with the most brilliant rainbow in the east sky and the bright sun in the west. Or at least that is how I remembered them when I was younger. Has global warming changed it?
This week, Calgary is experiencing the “Vancouver- type” rain. It is steady and wet and non relenting. It means that one will get wet if they go outside.
The umbrellas are popping up everywhere in our travels. The road race this morning even had bright yellow duckie ones. Cute, but definitely scary.
On our way out this afternoon,Bill grabs his umbrella and offers me one. No thanks I say, I have a hood.
Bill knows that I have a problem with these things. I am the only one that can carry an umbrella on a calm day and have it turn inside out. No wind needed. If not that, I manage to accost at least a dozen people along the way. I also get the one that never closes on command no matter how much I plead. And when I do close it, I have usually cleared a great wide swath around me. At least those English chappies will never get near another Canadian with an umbrella.
While in Japan, there was a whole new dimension to the umbrella saga. Umbrellas are a must in Japan. They are used just as much for sun protection as rain protection. On rainy days, the stores bring out of hiding these wonderful ergonomic plastic bag holders that are set at the entrance way of each building. The only way to explain them is like a condom for wet umbrellas.
The wonderfully talented Japanese folk in all of their efficiency are able to collapse their umbrella, insert them in the bag, and walk into the store without missing a step.
In walks Wendy. Hmm, I had them stacking up like cord wood behind me for one half of a block while I tried to collapse the umbrella. Shall I tell you that I had to take the plastic bag and find a quiet spot to finesse my wet umbrella into it. I guess that defeated the whole purpose of not getting the floor wet. Anyway by the third floor, I had it figured out.
The reverse was just as tricky, but you get the picture.
So umbrellas scare me. In my hands it becomes a weapon of mass destruction. Not just for those around me, but for myself as well.
Now when asked if I want the umbrella; I just say no thanks folks, I am from Saskatchewan and I have a hood.
WendyKH
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
“Hey mom - just wanted to report in , in case u hear about a big quake in japan. (I'm fine, japan is fine).”
This is an attention getter. Well at least for me who had not heard about any earthquake in Japan. The 15 hour time difference between Japan and Calgary means that Jackie is awake when we are asleep and vise versa. This means when she woke up the morning after the middle of the night quake experience, I was already asleep. So when I read it this morning she was already back to bed.
I did what any computer person would do and Google Japan and earthquake to get the latest news. The report was as follows;
Strong earthquakes hit Japan
1 day ago
TOKYO (AFP) — "A series of strong earthquakes including one with a magnitude of 6.7 hit the Tokyo area early Thursday, briefly cutting off power to more than 4,000 homes and causing light injuries, officials said.
Japan's meteorological agency warned that more moderate aftershocks could strike, although there were no fears of a tsunami.
The strongest quake hit at 1:45 am (1645 GMT Wednesday) in the Pacific Ocean off Ibaraki prefecture, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Six people were lightly injured, including an 18-year-old boy who was hit by his falling stereo speaker, according to the disaster management agency.
There were no reports of damage to houses, it said.
Power was cut off to some 4,500 households in Tsukuba City, northeast of Tokyo, but has since been restored, the industry ministry said.
The latest quakes have dealt no damage to nuclear power plants or nuclear processing facilities, it said.
But Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) was doing final checks on nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, an atomic safety official at the ministry said.
"They are on tight patrol at nuclear power plants" although the plants are continuing operating, the official said, adding government inspectors would give a final confirmation of safety later Thursday.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked central Japan in July last year, killing 11 people and shutting down the world's largest nuclear power plant owned by TEPCO.
The impact of the latest tremors was strongest in Ibaraki and adjacent Tochigi prefecture where it cracked holes in weak buildings.
"We felt a strong jolt, but there are no reports as of now of any major damage," an Ibaraki police spokesman said.
The strongest earthquake, which struck at a depth of 40 kilometres (25 miles), followed a series of tremors off the Pacific coast early Thursday, including one measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.
The quakes rattled buildings in the heart of Tokyo, where Chinese President Hu Jintao was staying on a rare visit to Japan.
Japan experiences 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes and has developed an infrastructure meant to withstand violent tremors.
The nation lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates and is constantly bracing for the dreaded "Big One" feared to inflict major damage.
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Tokyo could kill 4,700 people, damage 440,000 buildings and leave thousands of others trapped in elevators, according to a study published by the government in 2006.
The last major tremor in Tokyo was the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 which left 142,807 people dead or unaccounted for. Japan marks the September 1 anniversary each year with nationwide disaster preparation drills."
Well there it is! She lives on not one, but four tectonic plates that are just waiting to deliver the next big one! I won't even get into the whole nuclear plant thing.
Mothers are fierce protectors of their babies. It is innate and there is not much we can do about that, but worry. I would be lying if I said that I did not worry about her living in Tokyo. I must admit that I worried more about big city living and not about Mother nature.
So as I read that Jackie was “freaked out” about this scary ****”, I want to run to her and hold her tight and protect her.
As Mother's Day approaches, I reflect on what it means to be a mother. It means loving and protecting those babies we had so long ago. It does not matter that they are twenty something or I am sure fifty something. It only matters that they are safe, healthy and happy.
I have never been good at confrontation let alone fighting. However if it was to protect my children, I would take on Mother Nature herself. I not sure I could win but I would surely give her one hell of a good fight before falling.
Happy Mother's Day is knowing that your children are safe.
WendyKH
This is an attention getter. Well at least for me who had not heard about any earthquake in Japan. The 15 hour time difference between Japan and Calgary means that Jackie is awake when we are asleep and vise versa. This means when she woke up the morning after the middle of the night quake experience, I was already asleep. So when I read it this morning she was already back to bed.
I did what any computer person would do and Google Japan and earthquake to get the latest news. The report was as follows;
Strong earthquakes hit Japan
1 day ago
TOKYO (AFP) — "A series of strong earthquakes including one with a magnitude of 6.7 hit the Tokyo area early Thursday, briefly cutting off power to more than 4,000 homes and causing light injuries, officials said.
Japan's meteorological agency warned that more moderate aftershocks could strike, although there were no fears of a tsunami.
The strongest quake hit at 1:45 am (1645 GMT Wednesday) in the Pacific Ocean off Ibaraki prefecture, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Six people were lightly injured, including an 18-year-old boy who was hit by his falling stereo speaker, according to the disaster management agency.
There were no reports of damage to houses, it said.
Power was cut off to some 4,500 households in Tsukuba City, northeast of Tokyo, but has since been restored, the industry ministry said.
The latest quakes have dealt no damage to nuclear power plants or nuclear processing facilities, it said.
But Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) was doing final checks on nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, an atomic safety official at the ministry said.
"They are on tight patrol at nuclear power plants" although the plants are continuing operating, the official said, adding government inspectors would give a final confirmation of safety later Thursday.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked central Japan in July last year, killing 11 people and shutting down the world's largest nuclear power plant owned by TEPCO.
The impact of the latest tremors was strongest in Ibaraki and adjacent Tochigi prefecture where it cracked holes in weak buildings.
"We felt a strong jolt, but there are no reports as of now of any major damage," an Ibaraki police spokesman said.
The strongest earthquake, which struck at a depth of 40 kilometres (25 miles), followed a series of tremors off the Pacific coast early Thursday, including one measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.
The quakes rattled buildings in the heart of Tokyo, where Chinese President Hu Jintao was staying on a rare visit to Japan.
Japan experiences 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes and has developed an infrastructure meant to withstand violent tremors.
The nation lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates and is constantly bracing for the dreaded "Big One" feared to inflict major damage.
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Tokyo could kill 4,700 people, damage 440,000 buildings and leave thousands of others trapped in elevators, according to a study published by the government in 2006.
The last major tremor in Tokyo was the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 which left 142,807 people dead or unaccounted for. Japan marks the September 1 anniversary each year with nationwide disaster preparation drills."
Well there it is! She lives on not one, but four tectonic plates that are just waiting to deliver the next big one! I won't even get into the whole nuclear plant thing.
Mothers are fierce protectors of their babies. It is innate and there is not much we can do about that, but worry. I would be lying if I said that I did not worry about her living in Tokyo. I must admit that I worried more about big city living and not about Mother nature.
So as I read that Jackie was “freaked out” about this scary ****”, I want to run to her and hold her tight and protect her.
As Mother's Day approaches, I reflect on what it means to be a mother. It means loving and protecting those babies we had so long ago. It does not matter that they are twenty something or I am sure fifty something. It only matters that they are safe, healthy and happy.
I have never been good at confrontation let alone fighting. However if it was to protect my children, I would take on Mother Nature herself. I not sure I could win but I would surely give her one hell of a good fight before falling.
Happy Mother's Day is knowing that your children are safe.
WendyKH
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
