The snow ceased and although most of Vancouver was looking thawed and dry... my neighborhood of Point Grey, up on a hill, remained an icecap. Its almost ironic: the place you least want ice is on a hill... and yet its hills that retain it... c'est la vie.
Just when the cold was about to drive me mad, the unusual spree of winter gave way to what I am informed is "normal Vancouver winter." I've never been so pleased with rain in all my life. I loved the bright clear sky and the crisp wintery air... but I struggled to be out in them for more than five minutes. So my heart was duly prepared to embrace rain as long as it meant a temperature increase. The rain has come and I have not been disappointed. Today temperatures leapt up over twenty degrees from last week, resulting in a balmy 47ºF afternoon. Despite the loss of sunshine, I am wildly pleased to not be cold for once! The rain is slowly melting my neighborhoods snow. Its the only place left in the city with whole yards still largely obscured by white! But today its starting to look like its getting with the program.
The umbrella is such a regular feature of Vancouver life that at Regent, there isn't room enough in the polite umbrella bins near the college doors for all the wet canopies rallying into the building. Hence, there is an unofficial umbrella drying ground behind a large staircase. It looked like an umbrella flashmob, or a modern art installation... anyhow, it amused me.
