Carrick to Calgary

Weatherman J here again, with images of last night's thunder and lightning show!

First, the hail covered the deck:



And then the storm warning came on the TV during the day's Calgary Stampede RoundUp Program (note the cowboy doing the steer-wrestling!):



It wasn't quite 9pm, but the sky got dark all of a sudden with dark clouds swirling around and those weird strands of cloud hanging down to the ground like teased-out bits of cotton wool:



One minute it was dark:



and then the lightning lit the place up like daylight a second later:



And then the real lightshow started (these images are lifted from a video clip):











So there you go!

Weather today a little less eventful - hot all day, clear blue skies and no electric fireworks (yet). It's about 10pm here and it's still warm. Oh, and P has her work permit in her wee hot hands right now, and all without having to go to the USA after all - it's a long and surprising story, but I'll let her fill you in (she's promised to blog tomorrow)

A few more images from me, taken with the phone cam:


Me in my white coat - seems to be required here, as everyone else wears one, but I'm trying to lose mine ASAP, as I haven't had to wear one at home for years [in the UK, only medical students ever wear them]


My office (well, actually my corner of an office, shared with 3 other surgical fellows) - P's will be much nicer (& bigger!) than this!


We have discovered our local wine shop - very important indeed!

Lastly, just to give you an idea of the size of Calgary, here's a composite photo taken from the Canada Olympic park, looking north over the Transcanada Highway (which goes right across the whole country and right through the heart of Calgary). We live in Tuscany, on the extreme left, and the downtown is on the right, about 30 minutes away on the highway.



If you want to see the big version, click here

Just to give you an idea where we are, here's a small map of the city:



We're the red dot up in the north-west, the green dot is the Olympic Park, the blue dot is work, the yellow dot is Nose Hill Park, the downtown is in the middle and IKEA is the orange dot near the airport!


That's all for now - tomorrow's gonna be a big day, July 15 - two big birthdays to celebrate in 2 different timezones... Hope the presents arrive in time...

Love J