The Wind is Blowing

As I mentioned last week, my bike is fixed, and this week is the first in about two months when I've been able to resume my regular bike commute to work (about 100 km/week). And every single day of this week I've been battling fierce headwinds on the ride, as a series of three freak windstorms have repeatedly slammed into us here on Canada's west coast.

Last night was the worst so far. At three AM the boy and I were both woken due to the howling of the 100 km/hour wind. We were up for about an hour watching the sheet lightning, trees come down, and the power fail in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

This morning, I drove the boy and the step-daughter to their high school, and we marveled at the number of uprooted trees, the debris in the roads, and the blown-down walls and fences. The normal drive of five minutes took twenty minutes due to traffic snarls caused by tree-falls and non-functioning traffic lights. On arriving at the school, we found that their power was out, and school canceled for the day. The kids, of course, were heartbroken at having an unexpected long weekend. "Thank you, global warming!" they mourned on the trip home.

Rather than attempt to drive in, I grabbed my camera and hopped on the bike. Due to the worst headwinds I've ever seen, which was like pedaling through molasses, the commute took twice as long as normal. And I'll post photos of the damage later today in an update.

{UPDATE} Damn it, where is that little cabley thing I use to connect the camera to the computer? And what's that outside? Oh crap, snow. What the hell is wrong with the weather?

{UPDATE THE SECOND} Aha! Found the cabley thing.



A group of four trees in Adanac Park. Three of them are down.


One of many fences blown down.


Another downed tree.


Flags flying in different directions on in the lee of Science World.


English Bay, still a bit bumpy.