...is, to paraphrase James Joyce, general all over British Columbia. Usually we dwellers in the Banana Belt don't see much snow, but this morning the outflow winds hit the moist Pacific air and it's very pretty outside. But I don't look forward to the drive to work. Fortunately I don't have a class or meetings today, so I don't have to rush.
Early on Sunday morning the local water main burst in our next-door neighbour's front yard. By the time it was shut down and repaired, we had a gully running downhill between the houses, and a kind of mini-riverbed through the back yard. The far corner of the yard is now about three feet higher than it was, thanks to a chain-link fence that bent but didn't break. Astonishing to see how quickly water could gouge out the soil and scatter literally tons of rock and silt--not only in our yard, but for quite a distance down the street in other yards as well.
My wife the Master Gardener is of course unhappy about the ruin of her garden, but already looking forward to building a new one. It will be interesting sorting things out between the district engineering people and our insurance company.
And on Tuesday morning I heard from a former agent: Someone had asked him about the movie rights to my 1983 novel Tsunami (still in print through iUniverse.com). So I sent him a copy, plus the contract with iUniverse, and we'll see what happens. I'm certainly not pinning my retirement hopes on such a sale.
With the start of classes this week, I've been too busy to do much but think about Henderson. It seems pretty clear that it was a mistake to send Mike off to West Vancouver. Better to keep him in the building and have Espinosa collect him in the next day or so.
Best wishes for the new year and the new semester. Sorry to hear about your backyard. It reminds me of Santa Fe, which is full if irrigation canals. My favorite Spanish expression is Acequia Madre, which means Mother Ditch.
Posted by: David Irwin | January 06, 2005 at 02:26 PM