A Wholy Unexpected Part 2: Dark World Sci Fi Gets Up Close and Personal

Hello hello! 


 So, um, I was expecting this to be a two-part blog. Not a three part one. Except, Calgary kind of had a rainstorm. A big one. And then the rain kept coming. My city is now a disaster zone. People are walking in clusters and looking weary. Andrey and I decided a look around and coffee (from Tim Horton's, of course, that patriotic bastion) were in order. We also got crepes. We did get a look at it, and it was surreal. An ocean in a parking lot. An orange kayak paddling smoothly down a residential street. People walking close together, looking frightened. Others, looking for opportunities. Men sheltering their women and women sheltering their children. Curious dogs, mostly unbothered by the consternation of the pink hairless monkeys walking them. Roads that were rivers. Rivers that washed, angry and rich brown, over banks and trees. Cars being swallowed by water. Pictures of couches floating by. "Angry water" indeed.

 

Source was, obviously, Global News. And also Facebook.

I think it's probably self-explanatory that I've never experienced this before. I'd seen pictures in Winnipeg, Haiti, parts of India and Burma, in China, and in New Orleans and other parts of the States--but never 'here'. Oh, sure there was a big flood in my childhood in Lethbridge--the water was all the way up to the main bridge on Whoop-Up drive, and was vast--but it was hemmed in by the Coulees pretty well. And sure, the Elbow and Bow had flooded a bit in 2005 here in Calgary,and the parking garage was full of water--but I didn't imagine it happening again any time soon.

And I didn't think it could happen here. First World Problems, indeed.

There are a couple of pictures below, featuring yours truly poking about in the local fancy-pants rec centre, The Glenbow. There is probably even more water there right now. 

In court, they sometimes use the argument 'res ipsa loquitor'. The thing speaks for itself. Well, I think it does, here. Disasters are closer and more real than they were before, and maybe the interest in Dark World Sci Fi comes from a darker world. I'll be exploring that in the next post. Right now, I'm still in shock.

Also, I have two books to work on, so I should go do that.

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out!