It is definitely ironic that with eighteen hours of daylight the sun almost never appears. It popped out briefly this afternoon and I set out for a hike, but the weather gods were playing a trick on me, and an hour and a half later I was being pelted by hailstones the size of peas. Still, what hiking I’ve been able to do has been spectacular.
After crossing the Peel river yesterday I was able to get CBC North on the radio. The locals apparently use the radio station like a pager service, so between songs (selections included Loretta Lynn, Elvis, Neil Young, and Waylan Jennings) the DJ reads messages that have been phoned in. My two favorites were “Jimmy, we’re leaving in ten minutes, come home” and “Whoever just called 2442, please call back.” Two others that stood out were “Hi everyone, it’s John, I’ve just returned” which was followed less than three minutes later by “John, I heard you were back. Stop by for some stew.”