Final Transit » Winter

A tale of two thermometers

Priyank — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:56:12 +0000

Toronto’s extreme temperature swings

“I thought Canada was covered in snow all year,” my friend joked when I told him about the sweltering heat in Toronto last month. This area of North America was hit by a blistering heat wave that saw temperatures soaring to 40ºC on July 21, 2011. With high humidity and ultra-violet rays, the intensity was even worse. I bike to work at around 8am and return before 6pm; usually the weather is bearable around that time. But it was a different story last month!

However, that’s not the only weather extremity we faced in the recent past. Few days during this past winter, it was so cold that even the mercury barely made an appearance on the thermometer scale. I was glad I went on a vacation to Mexico and missed four snow storms! On my way home, the aircraft circled over Toronto for a while before landing. The city looked white, bright and beautiful in the evening sky. The pilot reminded us how Cancun also looked white, bright and beautiful when we had taken off earlier that day; however, Cancun’s brightness was due to its sandy beaches while Toronto’s glitter came from the snow blanketing it.

Want snow…

So when I had nothing better to do the other day, I started looking for gateways around the city for winter sports. The City of Toronto maintains two ski and snowboard centres in the city – Centennial Park and Earl Bales Park besides a large number of ice rinks for skating. The topography around Toronto is more or less a flat, and there aren’t any dramatic mountains around. As a result, unlike the Western coast of continental America or most of Europe there are not many resorts that are ideal for ski holidays. Wish there was an indoor ski resorts on lines of the one in Dubai, but then we don’t have oil money to splurge.

↑ Timmins, Northern Ontario

Where did you spend your last summer holidays? Any ski resorts?

Photo credits: colin.jagoe (heat wave), BugMan50 (cold wave)

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Toronto Tuesday 02.18: Snow

Priyank — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 04:04:19 +0000

It’s going to snow!

Last weekend we got some real indicators that snow season is approaching…

Snow on rugged matter

Snow on soft matter

Detroit: Reporting on a cold snowy day

Priyank — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:27:58 +0000

Detroit Skyline, and icy Detroit river: Viewed from Windsor, Canada on a cold February afternoon

I was in the automotive capital Detroit, Michigan, USA last weekend. There was Valentine’s day too, and one might wonder what I was doing in Detroit, a city infamous for intolerance, crime, racial segregation and an overall decay since the inevitable collapse of the automobile sector. I don’t know the extent to which any of that is true.

Well I had a lovely time, spending the gloomy snowy weekend eating, drinking, sleeping and getting pampered. Here are some not-so-glamorous pictures of the city.

There are rows of broken, unkept, dilapidated houses, just outside downtown

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Note the emphasis on ‘Most’, since there are “Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament” in other cities of USA)

Downtown Detroit

Taking down a building right in the heart of the city. There are several abandoned buildings around

Streets in the business district were empty although it was the lunch time

Fist of a champion

The municipal building

I haven’t been posting for a long time for a number of reasons but I assure you that I’m well and back in action. I received several emails and comments asking me if everything was okay – yes it is! Thanks for checking in! I’ll be checking out my reader soon.

Rabbits and Reindeers

Priyank — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:19:47 +0000

Charms of an animal farm in a little town in NorthEastern Ontario

I spent few days of the 2009 Christmas holidays at Chad’s dad’s place, in his charming house near Timmins, a town about 800km north of Toronto. He keeps reindeer and rabbits (among other animals) and it was fun to spend time watching them.

That’s what the house is called

Bunnies of all colours… always on the look for food

Reindeer

The herd.. Just chillin’ (literally!)

The rabbits love stealing reindeer feed and are skilled at escaping their horns. The reindeer are fed twice a day and they will quickly gather around the dinner table as soon as a bell is rung.

Reindeer pen

More wild rabbits basking in the sun at -15ºC. They run around outside the house all day long unless a predator is lurking in the bushes.

The deer seem to love sleeping out in the open

Yo

Everytime I see animals I feel weird. Animals just exist – grazing and mating. Why don’t they want to read books or eat Thai food?