A bad smell in the night and a hazy start to the week!

No, I don't have gas! The reason for the alarming smell of smoke which enveloped our apartment via the newly installed air conditioning at 2am, was the forest fires further North in the province, some of which have been burning all weekend. I feel vaguely guilty to be relieved that it was not our apartment block, but I am also relieved for the fact that the forests are thinly populated. It will no doubt impact the tourist season late in the month, and many people have been displaced by precautionary evacuation. Hopefully the wildlife will not be too impacted by the conditions.

Here there is little visible sign of the drama that is being enacted further to the North, except that the haze over the city is unusually dense, and the air smells unpleasantly of burning carpet... taking me back in my olfactory memory to living in a poorer suburb of Peterborough where house fires were a frequent occurrence. Asthsma alerts have been issued, and rain is eagerly anticipated to both cleanse the air and help put out the fires. If anyone believes that Canada is an ice-locked, wet and cold place to live, I would recommend visiting right now, while the above 30C temperatures and Australasian-style brush fires are bucking the stereotypical trend.

It was fortuitous that this weekend enabled me to install our second air conditioner, which combined with the smaller unit we have run for one week, makes our apartment tolerably cool at all times. I still feel a little nervous at the manner in which the units are secured in the sliding windows, although an analysis of the physics reveals that they are relatively safe; living on the third storey makes one conscious of the obligation to consider the safety of the residents below!

The schooling is becoming a little tough, and every student I speak with has confirmed that the Chemistry is impossible to complete in just one term, without a class led by a tutor. This means that I wish to try and find another college near enough to make study practical for the summer. Through all this, I'm eternally grateful that I have a loving and supportive wife who keeps her confidence in my ability to study even when I have lost it myself! One of my largest stumbling blocks in life has been to talk about, rather than actually pursue possible courses of action, and I am getting tired of so many unfulfilled plans. I am not a brilliant person, but can make a satisfactory result from almost anything I turn my hand to. That is why I want to secure a job as soon as I can, and contribute more to our home and life. It is too much to expect even from a dedicated wife like mine, to indefinitely fund all of our needs.

I have to cut short this post, a)because I am rambling off at a tangent and b) because our freshly shaven cats are a little on edge for a few days and I want to feed them before a full scale riot erupts.

So to all and any of my loyal readers, here`s to a good week from a smoggy and warm Montréal!