How to handle the heat on Vancouver Island

Waiting for the waves
Originally uploaded by Maryanne, Queen of Procrastination.

Yesterday, the temperatures in Victoria reached what's considered unbearable for a city where capris are comfortable year-round (meaning a full ten degrees Celsius cooler than it was in Regina). Even though we'd been dealing with the same temperatures for all of our weeks in Saskatchewan, it really was less bearable here, because no one here has heard of air conditioning, or of covering your windows when the sun's streaming in.

However, we found quite a pleasant way to escape the heat: we drove out to French Beach in the evening, to a place where the ocean is unsheltered and a cool breeze comes off the water. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the crashing waves. I posted them on my Flickr site, and the set is right here. (If I was at all adept at YouTube or something, I could also post the cool video I took of the waves, where you can hear the weird clacky sound it makes when the water runs over the rocks.)