11:55 p.m. - 2002-09-05
Autumn leaves
It was hard to get out of bed this morning. A cold drizzly rain was falling. The forecast was for a high of 10 Celsius/50 F. A taste of things to come. A month ago we saw temperatures daily in the plus 30/90 F range. It's hard for the body to adjust. When I got home tonight it took twenty minutes in a hot shower to warm up. Maybe I'm fighting some kind of virus.
Calgary weather is strange. The saying here is "if you don't like the weather - just wait ten minutes and it will change." It can vary by thirty degrees in one hour because of the chinooks that blow off the Rocky Mountains to heat things up or the Arctic fronts that are tenuously held back by the jet stream that can cause the temperature plunge just as quickly. Some days we get a little of everything. What it means in practical terms, especially if you travel by public transit, is that you leave home prepared for any contingency. In my backpack, all year round, I have an umbrella and headscarf for rain; hat, mitts and scarf for snow; and extra socks and shoes, just in case. It can snow in any month and I have worn a t-shirt and shorts in December and February.
Downtown we have a covered pedestrian walkway system called a "plus 15" that can get you to just about any building in the downtown core without going outside. It is situated on the second floor of each building. The connections are the enclosed bridges that connect the buildings about 15 feet above street level across the traffic below. This system was funded mostly by the oil companies so that staff could commute between sites because most companies have many partnerships requiring regular meetings. With the weather being so capricious, it provided some assurance that people wouldn't be stranded. Also with four to six months of cold weather each year it provides a comfortable and safe way to run all your errands at lunch without having to contend with traffic and heavy outdoor gear. The walkways are lined with shops, offices, services, and any kind of food outlet you can imagine. With over 50,000 office workers in about 10 square city blocks these businesses do very well.
I had some errands to run when I went for my walk at lunch and I went outdoors for most of it. I needed some fresh air because recycled office air is hard to breathe for any length of time. Popped into the herbalists' to pick up some fennel tea for my Dad - settles his stomach - and some herbs to boost my immune system. Coming back through the plus 15's took about half as long because of there being no traffic lights.
I brought a little "paperwork" home tonight because I really want to get this project wrapped up by the end of October. Because of all the missing data and files we have noticed, I want to spend the days we have on site securing the physical material. It has to be processed and boxed before it can be sent for electronic scanning and storage. Handfuls of documents are still disappearing out of the files. At the other extreme, material we have never seen is showing up on the shelves almost daily.
My "paperwork" is portable and it is easier to concentrate on it at home. My sons are so used to me working at the kitchen table/computer that they know when to just leave me alone. At work there are too many interruptions. Also some of the in-house professionals have been reprimanded because the way they have handled their responsibilities has put the company at risk. A lot of it wasn't detected until we caught it in the course of doing our work, although I think it was suspected. We aren't hired to monitor staff activities, but it is our responsibility to help the company protect its assets. I guess it is easier to be angry with us for doing our job than to take responsibility for their own behavior but it does make for an uncomfortable atmosphere some days. In some other companies there has been retaliation in similar circumstances, so safety is an issue too. Although I'm enjoying the technical aspect of this assignment, I'll be glad when this is done.
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