The last two weeks have been amazing - just endless rain. In fact we have only had two days fit for quadracycling, including today. This July has been very much like last year's July, wet, wet wet. It has set records for rainfall.
Friday 24 July 2009 was perhaps the wettest yet. One weather observer reported that Ottawa received 152 mm of rain that day. We were out for a walk in the afternoon and even with our Gortex coats and an umbrella, we still ended up taking cover in a bus shelter for 40 minutes while the rain pounded down, flooding all the streets, over the curbs. Of course, western Canada is suffering with extreme heat and drought. As I write this it is an unheard-of 34C in Vancouver with a humidex of 38C. Climate change has been really a drag so far.
So today there was no rain and the mid-afternoon temperature was a very moderate 24C, so we headed out for a quadracycle ride. With no errands that needed running and no place to go specifically we covered about 15 km in an hour around our local area. Of course with all the rain we have had, the gardens all look nice! It was just good to get some exercise in the sunshine.
It seemed to me that today many other residents were in a good mood, too as we got lots of smiles and waves and even a few positive comments about our quadracycle.
This year seems to be a bit different with regard to comments. We have always received positive comments at a rate of about 2000:1 over negative comments (the latter usually from people driving BMWs, who for some reason seem to be a group permanently annoyed at the whole world), but this year we have heard no negative comments at all. They usually run from the six-year-old who says "Mommy I want one" to the teenagers "You rock" to the older adults "That's the way to travel", or similar. It actually seems odd to be out riding my bicycle, because they are so commonplace that everyone just ignores you!
I think after July we have really now had enough rain. I am hoping it dries out a bit and we can get a bit more outdoor fun in gear for what is left of the summer.
Total quadracycling for 2009 so far - 204 km
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