Weather/Sports/Comics

There's still not much going on here, besides working way too much on really frustrating, uninspiring stuff. Otherwise, it's summer, which means lots of seeing people outdoors to drink, gossip, and generally hang out. It's very hot and humid in Halifax this year, which is supposed to be unusual but seems to be the norm more and more. I think we're getting more pollution blown up from the States than we used to.

Ali and I just got back in from playing some night tennis with a couple we know who happened to be there too. We played last weekend too, for about three hours in the blazing sun, and just about died the next day. I had a softball game to pitch and my back was killing me. Weirdly, the game ended early because the other team didn't technically have enough players and should have forfeited, but we said we'd play them anyway, and then when there was a dispute about a call in the fifth inning which began to turn a little ugly they decided to forfeit after all because they didn't feel like playing anymore. I can't decide if that was a smart move or poor sportsmanship. They were winning. It sure made my team mad. That was the second of two games, though, and we won the first handily. I even got a homerun, sore back and all.

Here's a gross but funny story: Ali and I were eating veggie hot dogs and french fries on the waterfront for lunch the other day, and saw a little girl drop her baseball hat into the harbour water by a little footbridge. She started crying and her family came over and all looked down into the water with her. Then some more people started gathering around and looking down too. They were pretty much all tourists. We went back to eating for awhile, and then suddenly realized that the crowd was cheering, still looking down into the water. We went over to see what they were looking at, and there was the little girl's father, minus his shirt, swimming out into the bilge to grab the hat and swim back. It was definitely one of the more disgusting things I've ever seen. He came out smiling and one of the local tourism information girls politely informed him that he might consider a quick trip to the hospital, as the harbour water is probably the most toxic substance known to mankind, not least because there is a steady stream of raw sewage being dumped into it. He asked whether there wasn't somewhere he could hose down, and the girl whisked him over to a side area to do just that, followed closely by his concerned looking family, the mother clenching her jaw and tightly gripping... the little girl's baseball hat! We were convinced she must still not understand completely what had happened, so Ali went over to quietly advise her that the offending garment might now be better off in some sort of sealed waste depot. But she kind of impatiently insisted that they would definitely be keeping it, as it was the girl's best hat. To be fully clear, this was a nylon, mesh-backed fuchsia hat with a plastic size adjustment strap and an ostensibly cute message silk-screened onto the front. The kind you can buy at any dollar store, usually on sale. "Not anymore," seemed the only possible response.

And if you thought those hijinx were funny, check out this sidesplitter entitled "Having a Bad Day". Meg sent it to me at work. I can't believe what an insensitive jerk this woman's son is.





- Andrew