Let There be Light!

At 11:36 am last Monday North Vancouver moved from the endless rainy season to bright, warm, sparking sunshine. Yes, it was that dramatic, and immediately the mood of everyone on the North Shore improved by about 110%.

This week has reminded me that one other thing that I want in notre maison en Normandie is light, lots and lots of light. Our current home is surrounded on all sides by forest, and is not particularly well oriented on the strata property. The result is a home that is dark most of the time, especially throughout the rainy season. Even during the spring weather right now it only really gets direct sunlight for a couple of hours each day. This year has really driven home how much this affects my mood, and given that depression is already a longstanding condition it really does matter.

It's no exaggeration to say that I have accomplished more in the last five days than in the previous five weeks. (Admittedly a large part of that reflects time saved in not toweling down muddy dogs and washing rain gear.)

So I want big, bright windows that let in lots and lots of sunlight; windows in every room so that you never find yourself in a dark, depressing corner.

Sometimes number do tell the tale:

Rain days in North Vancouver: 155 Rain days in Rouen: 127

That's 28 more days without rain, which looks very appealing right now!

Average Temperatures in Rouen are roughly between 4°C and 18°. Freezing temperatures are rare. North Vancouver is actually only slightly cooler.

As Goldilocks would say, not too hot, not too cold!

Vancouver gets about 289 days with sunshine each year, and North Vancouver something less. Rouen sees about 205 sunny days. I guess you win some and lose some.

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On an unrelated​ note, in an effort to get my French comprehension back to something useful (it's been a long time since high school and university French classes) I've been listening to podcasts from Radio France, including the "Pop Story" podcast, a short thing that talks about the history of a single (usually American) pop song.

Pop Story, nouvelle série pour cette année 2018, c'est l'histoire de la chanson et des tubes racontée par Marc Toesca.

Bien avant la naissance de nos classements musicaux, les hit-parades ou charts, ou encore palmarès, faisaient les beaux jours des programmes de radios aux Etats-Unis. Ces "podiums" basés, sur les ventes de disques, et sur les goûts des programmateurs reflètent toujours, au travers des chansons que l’on y retrouve, le style, l’air du temps et l’esprit d’une époque.

Since I know the songs, and know the artists, it's easy to follow and figure out context.

The problem turns out to be that every episode include lots of references to the years that a record was released, and the number it hit on the charts.

Which is where I discovered that my numerical literacy is pretty much zero in French. Thankfully that shouldn't be too hard to relearn!

(Tsk. Couldn't find the following in French, so it's Mother Maybelle!)