Hot Days, Canada Day And Thunderstorms

 Summer can be a bummer. And this time not because it's too cold, but rather the opposite. 

Canada experiences early summer days way above the normal temperature range. And it has very sad consequences as almost 500 people have died because of heat stress. Yesterday, the small village of Lytton, B.C. burnt down. In the days prior to the fire, the town broke every heat record with temps topping out at almost 50C (122F). From the moment the mayor noticed some smoke at the south side of town until the entire town was burning, it took only 30 minutes. 260 people lost everything they owned and about 1000 have been evacuated from surrounding areas.  B,C, has been plagued with wildfires over many years, yet it is shocking to hear about a disaster like the one from Lytton, BC.

But Canada also is in the midst of another disaster. Hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children have been found at the sites of former "residential schools" where those kids had to endure catastrophic conditions of malnourishment and inhuman treatment.  Many were outright murdered. And this has been going on from the 40s throughout the 60s. Ever since the first graves were discovered, Canadian flags across the country have been set at half staff. 

Inconveniently, Canada Day was coming up on July 1. To mark the country's compassion with those children's families, the celebrations of Canada Day have been canceled over the entire country. While Canada Day parades were canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, this time it is the national mourning after an unfathomable national tragedy.

Back to the hot days of summer, even the east coast has been seeing the mercury creep to almost unprecedent high levels.

Naturally, we also got thunderstorms. Ever since we moved to the island we had not experienced a storm like the one we had yesterday. 

The sky turned just black and then thunder started rolling, first in the distance, but coming closer and closer. When the rain hit, I took a short video through the window.

And then it was Canada Day. A few neighbours came together for a chat and to remember Canada Day. It was a nice thing to do and it was the right thing to do. The pandemic has taken an emotional toll on all of us and with the recent tragedies at home and in Florida, it was good to have a couple of hours of enjoyment.