Caster: After I get this forecast submitted I’m off for five days. Back on Friday night.
Juno: Yes, I remember. I’ll look after things. Have a good trip. Paris, was it?
Caster: Yes, yes. I’ll be visiting some of the galleries.
Juno: Say, what sort of beer do they have there? You see, me and the Mrs.–.
Caster: –I don’t know.
Do you know where Hercules is? I’ve got to see him about temperatures.
Juno: I think he’s getting his hair done.
Caster: Haircut? I’ll go and look for him at the barbers.
Juno: Coif, he calls it.
***
Monday morning
Radio announcer: …And that was the news. Here is the National Weather Service Five Day Forecast for the Johnson Creek area. First, more rain. Rain, heavy at times for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Total amount over these three days will be 60 millimetres. Temperatures steady with daytime highs of 10 Celsius. Low overnight 5 Celsius. Winds light, from the northwest. Sunny for Thursday and Friday. Temperature rising to 13 Celsius on Thursday, 15 Celsius on Friday. Light winds.
That should come as welcome relief after all the stormy weather we had last week.
***
Friday evening
Caster: Harry, I’m back.
Harry: How was your trip?
Caster: Oh, fine, fine. Did you get your frogs off alright over Meyerthorpe?
Harry: That part went according to plan.
Caster: How about the rain?
Harry: Rain?
Caster: Yes, for Johnson Creek.
Harry: It turned out we didn’t have any rain for them.
Caster: What?
Harry: Seems we had our signals crossed. The water was to go with the frogs for Meyerthorpe.
Caster: So how much rain did Johnson Creek get?
Harry: In the end there was no rain for Johnson Creek.
Caster: What, none all week?
Harry: That’s right.
Caster: Oh, that’s good.
Harry: Sorry about the forecast being off.
Caster: Yes, that’s bad. But, between you and me, I don’t mind giving Johnson Creek a break. They could do with a bit of sunny weather. However, not so good for my forecasting record. But, that’s the weather.
Harry: Er, it wasn’t entirely sunny.
Caster: Why is that?
Harry: You remember the problem with the iced-up freezers?
Caster: Yes.
Harry: Well, we had some extra time as the frog drop went much quicker than anyone had expected. So, I got all the freezers defrosted.
Caster: Oh, very nice.
Harry: Only, the ice we scraped out of the freezers had to go somewhere.
Caster: You didn’t drop it onto Johnson Creek! Why not on Meyerthorpe?
Harry: I couldn’t, not with the poor frogs. So, it had to go onto Johnson Creek.
Caster: Johnson Creek got hail?
Harry: More of an ice storm you might call it.
Caster: Oh, dear. When was this?
Harry: Monday and Tuesday. The last bits went on Thursday.
Caster: Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I’ve got to go and look at the report…. Thursday! What was the temperature?
Harry: Somewhere below freezing, I think.
Caster: Below freezing! It was supposed to be 13 Celsius on Thursday. Where was Hercules all this time?
Harry: I think he was getting his nails manicured.
Caster: Aargh!
***
Caster: Juno! I’ve just been looking at this report for Johnson Creek. It says here they had high winds Tuesday and Wednesday, gusting to 60 kilometres per hour and then gusting to 80 kilometres per hour on Thursday. You promised me it was going to be calm!
Juno: High winds and der ice.
Caster: Never mind the ice. What about the wind? You told me your big blowers were out of order.
Juno: They was but the techs was workin’ on ’em all of them days. And, they had to rev ’em up now and again as they was workin’ out the bugs. The blowers is all fixed now. We can give you whatever wind you want. We can even get up to 200 kilometre an hour now.
Caster: I don’t want 200 kilometre per hour winds. Please keep it calm! And the temperatures! It was below freezing most of the week. What was Hercules doing?
Juno: I don’t know.
Caster: Where is he now?
Juno: I’m not sure. He’s been pretty big on the tanning salon lately.
Caster: Aargh!
