The ice rolls in...

Being a Newfoundlander, you grow up believing that:
A. The weather can read your mind
B. It hates you. There's no reason why it hates you. It just does. Think of the weather as a temperamental cheerleader. Sometimes it can be sunny and friendly; most of the time it's just a bitch.

For good measure, you can also toss in the rest of the universe. I found this definition of karma on dictionary.com - seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation.

I think Newfoundlanders tend to have a slightly skewed version of this. Most wish for good weather, but believe because you wish for it and want it, there's a price to be paid. And not at a 1:1 ratio either. No, this is at a more "deal with the devil" ration. Wish for one nice day, you get two weeks of pounding rain and fog. Sort of like rob someone in this life, spend the next 1000 years a cockroach. That sort of thing.

All of which brings us to Iqaluit. Last week was bizarrely warm. The day I arrived when it nearly hit 27C. That's a record, I believe. Not for that day....forever. Since they started recording temperatures in Iqaluit, they've never had a day that warm. And the rest of the week, while not hitting that peak, was still comfortably around 20C. It was sunny. People were getting tanned.

Naturally, the Newfoundlander in me was whispering "well, the payback on this week is going to be fucking awesome."

Payback began yesterday. Just a little appetizer, if you will. Some grey weather, a sprinkling of rain, and the temperature dropping to about 6C. Nothing too serious. Until you looked out in the bay and saw ice moving.

Yes. Ice. Fucking ice. At the end of July. Granted, I've been up here not quite three years, so perhaps there's nothing historically unusual about bergy bits floating into the bay and running themselves aground at low tide. But it's the first time I've seen it this late. It's one of those things that makes you wonder.

By the way, since there was still ice in the bay when I left at the end of June, it means I've seen a grand total of seven days so far this year without ice in the bay.

Yeah, payback for last week is going to be something to behold.

Last Five
1. By your side (live) - Allison Crowe*
2. Behind the lines - Genesis
3. Curiosity - Sean Panting
4. Bad habit - Joss Stone
5. Holly waltz/Diggy diggy low - The Flash Girls