Winter Forecast

Musim gugur baru aja lewat di Montreal. Salju yang turun ga berenti minggu lalu mengisyaratkan mulainya Winter tahun ini. Seperti biasa, Winter berarti salju, kadang disertai badai, dingin dan berpikir berkali-kali untuk keluar rumah kalo ngga penting-penting banget. Alhamdulillah, saat ini penghangat ruangan (heater) sudah menjadi bagian yang tak terpisahkan dari kantor, sekolah, mall, rumah dan apartemen di sini. Bahkan, bus pun ada penghangatnya. Jadi, kalo di dalam ruangan di sini kita ngga khawatir kedinginan.

Akibatnya konsumsi listrik saat winter di sini jadi sangat tinggi. Karena orang ngga banyak lagi yang pake kayu bakar buat penghangat ruangan. Kebayang, berapa banyak kayu bakar yg dibutuhkan buat menghangatkan Amerika Utara di musim Winter kayak gini, kalo ngga ada listrik. Makanya bulan-bulan Januari dan Februari seringkali ada peringatan pembatasan konsumsi listrik, supaya ngga terjadi black out (listrik mati tiba-tiba karena over consumption).

Satu lagi yang jadi ritual orang sini saat winter: ngeliat weather forecast, terutama sebelum keluar rumah. Meskipun ramalannya sering meleset, rasanya kurang afdol kalo keluar rumah ngga ngeliat weather forecast terlebih dulu. Nah berkaitan dengan itu, ada joke menarik dari SendAfriend.com.

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It was October and the Native Americans on a remote reservation asked their new Chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Chief in a modern society he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

Being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?" "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold" the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.

A week later he called the National Weather Service again. "Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the Chief called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely," the man replied. "It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever." "How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The chief has his people on the Reservation is collecting firewood like crazy." (www.SendAFriend.com)

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