It’s official: I don’t want to live in Saskatchewan any more.
Not that I ever have lived in Saskatchewan. My only visits to our neighbor to the north have been to its more eastern provinces, like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
But after the past couple of days of living in conditions that are pretty much standard winter fare for that grand rectangle of the Northern Plains, I’ve had about enough, thank you very much.
As I type this, about 5 p.m. Wednesday 2 Feb., it’s 15 degrees in Tulsa. The temperature in Regina, Saskatchewan, is 14 degrees.
And we may have more snow than they do.
It’s not that I don’t like winter. I’m a firm believer in the fact that one can always bundle up enough to keep the icy chills at bay, while it can be impossible – not to mention illegal in some areas – to unbundle enough to survive the heat and humidity of summer days.
But I digress.
What prompted this post’s opening statement is the fact that one of my all-time favorite TV shows is a Canadian comedy called “Corner Gas,” set in a mythical small town in south central Saskatchewan. It’s one of the few series I think enough of to buy the complete set of DVDs, which we watch quite often.
And, on occasion, I have – in moments of mild distress or dissatisfaction with the way things currently are in my life – jokingly said to my wife that maybe we should move to Saskatchewan and open a gas station.
Of course I know nothing about running such a store, and I know that how the business is portrayed is about as far from reality as can be.
For one thing, it’s always summer in the town of Dog River, where “Corner Gas” is set. One of the discs in the set includes an interview with the show’s creator and star, Brent Butt, where he’s asked why there aren’t any winter episodes.
His response is a startled, you-gotta-be-joking look, followed by a riposte along the lines of “if you want to film something in a Saskatchewan winter, be my guest.”
So. I’ve had enough “Saskatchewan in winter” to last me for quite some time. Now we’re ready for … oh, I don’t know… how about Tuscany in spring time?
