Saturday, May 21, 2011

On a clear day....

     Finally....a break in the smoky air. Well, the air looks much clearer, but that smell just won't go away. Or maybe it's just in my nose and hair and clothes and will take forever to get rid of. The last couple of days were just nasty. The a/c in the buildings here was not working in some areas, so people were leaving their windows open. Well that just brought in the smoke and ash. Some of the big rooftop units pull in outside air, so the hallways and stairwells were very stinky. Even the bathrooms, because of the exhaust fans. Population at camp is sitting around 950, that number including ESS staff. I went outside a couple of times just to see what it really looked like, as the windows are so dirty it's hard to really tell...and yeah, it stinks worse out there. OK, so much for my complaining. Oh wait...one more thing, there was an e-mail that was supposed to be posted up around the building that explained the official position, and it said that the particulate in the air was not a health danger as the ash pieces were too big to be inhaled. What??? Also, the acceptable level of air quality is higher here because the general population levels have to take into account children, the elderly and those with health problems. So it's acceptable for people out here working to be exposed to more dirty air. Oh well. I do choose to be here for the paycheque. The fires are NOT out, they are still burning away, it's all in the direction of the wind. The best chance for rain is Monday, at 40%. Other than that, there has still been no rain. And we are getting almost 2 full hours more of sunlight here than back home. Sunrise here is 4:57 am, in Stratford, 5:54. Sunset out here is 9:46 and 8:47 in Stratford. We are also the warm spot in Canada, the past week we've had temps in the high 20's, or over 80 for you American folk :)
     I head home tomorrow night, on the redeye. Haha, that's funny, because my eyes are already red! I can't wait to smell clean air. I bet all my belongings stink too. Yuck!

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