Home Weather Station

I went for a haircut today. I meant to take before and after pics but remembered while the assistant was washing my hair. For about seven years I’ve only trusted my hair to Trent, because in addition to the fantastic job he always does, we don’t talk about the weather…except for in the rare event of extreme conditions. But yesterday the woman in the chair next to me was talking at length with her haircuttist about weather. They talked about the Weather Network and compared the five-day forecasts they had both memorised. Its suppose to rain, or be cloudy all weekend, or cool down, or be sunny. So it got me to thinking: why are we totally obsessed with the weather? I guess it affects everybody’s life, everyday in the exact same way. No matter how crap things could be going, at least we can credit our lives with the unifying experience of the city’s weather patterns.

So then why don’t we get more almanac on it? Like get into air pressure and storm fronts and actually learn what the giant cross-country dotted lines with moving Hs and Ls in red and blue mean. Why don’t we all track the relative humidity and make our own predictions for the next few days? There shouldn’t be a Gideon Bible in hotel bedside tables but a copy of the Farmer’s Almanac. That way we would be truly prepared for natural disasters.

In a rambling fashion, this brings me to my Christmas present from Murray. We both got each other half-assed gifts last Christmas: I got him the Jay-Z album and an olive wood spatula. He got me a home weather station. I was hoping for a lifetime of massage and spa gift certificate, so I was totally perplexed by this one. I mean, I do like (or have a slightly above normal obsession with) the weather and have Environment Canada in my Toolbar Favourites, but I still know very little about how it works. So until just recently the home weather station stayed in its box. But upon closer reading of the instruction manual I started to get totally into it. I can learn what air pressure does and which way the wind is blowing outside my house instead of from measurements taken at the aeroport. It even makes predictions for the next 24 hours! I can get truly personal weather. In your face Environment Canada.

I guess the fundamental interest in weather is a residual from an agriculture-based lifestyle, where the planting season was more important then the this season’s Lost finale. We just have to slowly evolve our way out of caring. But for now I will learn about how clouds feel and be able to always dress appropriately.