I haven’t posted anything last week, because I wasn’t quite sure what to write. It’s been a weird couple of weeks. A fortnight of strong contrasts between myself and the vast majority of people around me. For myself, I had an unexpected influx of money at the beginning of the month. Not quitting-my-job money, not even paying-my-house money, but the kind to put a smile on my face. And while that was happening, the worst flood we’ve seen in 40 years hit my hometown. It’s also really bad elsewhere in the province, but I don’t know about what records may or may not have been broken there.

I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, it would be disingenuous to say that the first two weeks of May haven’t been good weeks for me, on the other hand, looking at pictures and videos and listening to people’s stories makes it impossible to call those two weeks anything but bad. It feels so much worse because I know very well how safe I am. It would take an apocalyptic event to bring any flood to my house, and we’re not quite there yet.

The best thing I could think to do was donate some of my unexpected gains to the Canadian Red Cross. It feels like a grain of sand in the desert (the ‘drop in the ocean’ analogy would be poor taste here) but also like the best thing to do. The Red Cross has experience, knowledge and resources; they know what to do, and if I can help them a little, it’s better than nothing.

Should anybody else want to make a donation, for the Quebec relief or for one of the other Canadian Red Cross funds, here is a link to do it.