에드먼튼, 앨버타에 사는 사람들의 심리가 꼭 이렇지 않을까? 하도 절묘하고, 그러면서도 유머러스해서, 통째로 옮겨 왔다. 메트로 에드먼튼 5월2일치에 실린 칼럼이다.
Terence Harding | 02 May 2011 05:54
Given our weather, living in Edmonton is like being in a dysfunctional relationship with someone we love but who has trouble living up to the promise of fair treatment and respect that is inherent in any relationship.
Terence Harding | 02 May 2011 05:54
Columnist Terence Harding
Given our weather, living in Edmonton is like being in a dysfunctional relationship with someone we love but who has trouble living up to the promise of fair treatment and respect that is inherent in any relationship.
I suspect that, during the depths of winter, every one of us has given thought to moving to some place with a less demanding climate.
But most of us stay here and tough it out no matter how many acts of betrayal by the weather.
We keep telling ourselves that the positives outweigh the negatives, that it is worth soldiering on and that one day things will get better.
Living here is like having an errant lover who keeps on sticking it to us.
One day is sunny and warm and the next is freezing cold.
But just when we decide that we have had quite enough, spring arrives. Spring here is a heartfelt act of atonement and repentance.
As a result, we remember what we like about this place: the early-morning bird songs, the big blue sky, the blooms in our gardens, the cool nights and pleasantly warm days.
But we are not to be easily fooled.
We want some proof that our lover really has decided to change its ways.
We find reassurance in the lengthening days that give us clear, natural light in which to play long after those in other cities have had to retreat into their homes.
We begin to relax and start to think that perhaps things really have changed and we no longer have to worry.
By the time summer comes, we have decided to try to let bygones be bygones. We barbecue, golf, swim, walk and ride until the last vestige of the summer light is gone.
And yet many of us have a niggling worry that though behaviour changes, character does not. Around June 21 our spidey sense kicks in.
We start to wait for the other shoe to drop. Eventually, it does. And we are given the cold shoulder once more.
We know there will be more bad weather on the way.
And we know that, months hence, we will get the same apology and the cycle will begin again.
But each year we stick it out and wait once more for the promise of better things to come.
We could move to Vancouver and the rain, but that would just make us quitters.
