Can’t stand the smoke, can’t stand the heat, we’ve got to get out of this place.

We are in the middle of the hottest driest summer in years. Farmers are giving up on getting a grain harvest on some of their fields and cutting the grain for green feed for cattle. Hay crops are poor. The smoke drifting across the prairies from forest fires in B.C. and northern Saskatchewan adds to the misery. We see it, smell it, taste it, feel it burning our eyes.

My wife and I have decided to take a week off to visit a part of Canada where they have an amazing natural phenomenon – water droplets falling from the sky. They call it rain, perhaps you’ve heard of it?

OK, bad joke. I’m just in a bad humour. I hope a week in Quebec will brighten my outlook on life.