Blue Skies

Many years ago, I recall reading that postcards of scenes in Ontario were usually doctored. Apparently all those lovely cards from Niagara Falls had their Ontario skies excised and replaced with skies from Alberta. I'm beginning to see why.

We can go for many days without seeing a cloud. The sky here is rich and clear and very photogenic. And there's much more sunlight every day. Just over a month ago I wrote that sunrise was 8:50 and sunset 16:29. Today the sun rose at 8:00 and set at 17:36. It's a staggering rate of change - fast enough that we can see a noticeable difference every week, if not quite from one day to the next. Already I'm going to work and returning home in daylight.

The forecast calls for more sunny days ahead, though perhaps a flurry or two on Wednesday. I can't remember when we saw snow last. It seems like it's been a couple of weeks at least.

Transit Etiquette

It's not uncommon to hear people say "thank you" on the way out the bus door in many cities. "Thank you", "merci", "cheers!" It doesn't take much to acknowledge the bus driver as a human being as you walk past him or her to get off the bus. And lots of people do it.

But here in Edmonton there's a twist: lots of people call out "thank you' from the back door of the bus as they get off! I've never seen that in any city before. It just about blew me away when I first heard it!

And then the transit experience stepped up to yet another level this week. As the bus stopped, the driver called out to those exiting to watch out because there was a sweeper coming on the sidewalk. (This is a smallish tractor-like vehicle with a large rotating cylindrical brush on the front.) I imagine walking out straight into those bristles would be a rather nasty experience, so good on the driver for warning the passengers rather than just leaving them to their own deivces.

But, this being Edmonton, the bus driver's warning, while welcome, was unnecessary. Because the sweeper driver noticed the bus and stopped to let the passengers get off unscathed.

Even though I wasn't getting off at that stop, I thought "thank you" to both drivers.

A great start to the day!

Legal

No, not the town. Us. We're legal!

We now have drivers' licenses in hand and an Alberta license plate on our car. We decided against a vanity plate and just got another set of numbers and letters for me to memorize. In the process of obtaining the plate, the Registry agent said "Now you're real Albertans." Well, almost. We will be once we get our Alberta health cards, for which there's a three-month waiting period. But at least the paper work is done for that, so all we need to do now is wait for them to come in the mail. But until then, the only thing marking us as Quebecers is our Medicare cards.

Actually, we don't have drivers' licenses. We have Operators' Permits. They're pretty fancy with all sorts of hard-to-counterfeit features. Pity about the photo on mine.

Another thing the Registry agent told us was that it seems to be popular around here to steal license plates. Sufficiently so that the Police department gives out locking screws for license plates. We got a pair, but the threads are completely different from our old ones, so in the end we simply reinstalled the old screws with the new plate.

But now we're real Albertans. Or at least, we can impersonate them on the road. Maybe we'll even take a trip to Legal.

Warmcuts

I remember a column in the Montreal Gazette a zillion years ago by Nick Auf der Maur about what he called warmcuts. I don't know if he coined the term or not, but the Urban Dictionary defines a warmcut as "a pedestrian route chosen for its warmth, rather than because it makes the pedestrian's trip shorter." Nick Auf der Maur's column described his route from home to the office: cross this street, enter that building, walk across the lobby to the other side (in the warmth), then exit, cross the next street, enter the next building and so on. In Montreal the process is aided by the underground connections among a variety of buildings. The Underground City is big enough that there is a mini-marathon through it.

In Edmonton we have what's known as the Pedway. This consists of connections both underground and above-ground. There are many second-floor enclosed bridges across downtown streets from one building to another that allow the pedestrian to avoid the need to spend too much time outdoors. Obviously, when it's cold out (this morning started at -18 or so, after record-breaking highs a day or two ago) it's nice to be able to go about simple business without having to spend too much time outdoors. Today I was taken on a bit of a warmcut tour from the office to the bank so we could transact some business.

Now, if we can figure out a way to avoid having to stand on windblown corners waiting for a pedestrian crossing light.....

Wheels!

My car arrived yesterday! So, after I got the call saying my car was in Edmonton, I took a cab way out of town to a rail yard, to pick it up. It took two weeks for my car to make its 3000 km journey, like a latter-day Paddle to the Sea, and here it is in Edmonton, none the worse for wear, though a little dusty (to say the least). I wonder what stories it could tell?

So now my collection of keys is almost back to normal. (I should be getting office keys on Monday.) And I have managed to drive in Alberta for the first time. 

So where to go for the first official trip? Where else? The West Edmonton Mall.

Most people have heard of the West Edmonton Mall, but seeing is truly believing. It's humonguous. We strolled from end to end, checked out Chinatown, wandered down Bourbon Street, watched people skating and swimming and climbing and playing on the water-borne bumper cars, browsed in a couple of shops. Mostly we were there simply to gawk, although I'm sure we will return for some serious shopping at some point. Probably we'll become regulars at the large Chinese grocery store there. It's much bigger than any back in Montreal. Bigger than many general grocery store in Montreal, in fact.

It's funny: we used to live about 15 minutes from the largest shopping mall in Eastern Canada; now we live 15 minutes from the largest shopping mall in all of Canada. The big difference between the two, other than the size, is the non-shopping amenities here in Edmonton. More than just a place to shop, the West Edmonton Mall is also a place to spend the day (or longer if you stay at the hotel.) I don't know how many days we're likely to spend there; we're really not big shoppers. But it was fun to visit.

And it was gratifying to see that I can get around my new city so easily by car. I feel pretty well oriented, even though there is still a lot to discover. But that's part of the fun.

Shorter Days

Edmonton is a fair piece further north than Montreal, so days are decidedly shorter in winter. (They will be longer in summer, though!) But there's a slightly funny dynamic at play here. Because Montreal is so far east in its time zone, all the extra daylight there comes in the morning.

For example, according to Environment Canada, today (January 5) sunrise in Montreal was 7:35 and in Edmonton it was 8:50, exactly an hour and a quarter later. That makes for a very dark start to the day!

But sunset is another story. Today's sunset in Montreal was 16:25, and actually four minutes later (16:29) in Edmonton. OK, four minutes isn't as big a deal as an hour and a quarter. But calling it even, daylight ends in Edmonton at about the same time as it does in Montreal. So, although mornings are definitely darker, by the time evening arrives at roughly the same time as I am accustomed to, I find I've pretty much forgotten how late the sun rose. Unless I'm blogging about it, that is.

So far, I'm not really minding the darkness of the morning, perhaps in part because of the novelty of it. But I am certainly looking forward to seeing how the longer summer days feel.

Getting Around

Edmonton gives the impression of being a pretty car-friendly city. The street grid is pretty straightforward, and there's an ample supply of of major thoroughfares by which one might get from point A to point B. And gas is pretty cheap here, too. I just saw it being sold for $1.00 per litre. (I last purchased gas in Montreal for $1.27.)

But for all that it might seem like the car is king here, there's another dynamic at play: pedestrians rule!

Coming from a city where daily survival as a pedestrian is a major accomplishment, walking in Edmonton is a real treat! Not only do drivers stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, they even back up out of crosswalks to allow pedestrians through! I haven't quite got used to the idea that I don't need to hesitate before taking my life in my hands by stepping into an intersection. My Montreal self-preservation instincts are still too strong.

Navigation is just as easy as walking, too. In the downtown and older parts of the city most streets are numbered. Streets go north-south, with street numbers increasing from east to west. Avenues go east-west with avenue numbers increasing from south to north. So 103rd Avenue is one block north of 102nd and so on. Street (and Avenue) addresses relate to the cross-streets, counting up (theoretically) 100 numbers from cross street to cross street. So, my office is at 10035 103rd Street, which means it's between 100th Avenue and 101st Avenue. Actually, there is no 101st Avenue because it's named Jasper. But the principle is sound. (And if you're really good, you know that odd numbers are on the east side of streets.) 

All this makes it really easy to assess whether a given address is near or far, and to know exactly where to find it. We hardly need a map to find our way around, as long as we know the address where we are going.

I'm sure it's theoretically possible to get lost in Edmonton, but it looks like it would take some serious effort.