TORONTO – A brutal late-season ice storm swept through Ontario this weekend, just in time to improve local son James Cougan’s phone conversation with his father.
“The storm was pretty nasty, but I can’t deny it generated a solid ten minutes of material with the old man.” said Cougan.
During phone calls with his father, Cougan often draws upon topics such as recent curling results and his sister’s beautiful children. All under the constant threat that Cougan’s father may ask why he doesn’t just go into advertising.
However, a meteorological phenomenon of this magnitude almost guarantees a pleasant and easy conversation. “Most of the time it’s a game of chicken to see who’s the first to say ‘It’s getting late, I should go.’” said Cougan. “I once said that at 9 o’clock in the morning.”
The destructive ice storm was a welcome boon to this Sunday’s conversation, opening up myriad topics of discussion. “Thank God my power went out,” grinned Cougan from under several blankets. “That’s an easy five minutes right there talking about candles and what kind of branch might have fallen on the power line. And this Christmas he got me an LED flashlight with a built-in FM radio so we burned a bunch of time on that.”
Cougan hopes that the incident which has left 37,000 Ontario residents without hydro, will provide fodder for at least one more Sunday conversation. “I’m excited for the post-storm chat,” said Cougan. “I’d almost be disappointed if next Sunday my mom answered.”
