joshua wilsher

Pincher Creek

I was just looking at some photos that Jac sent me of Australia Day. How healthy and happy everyone looks!

Every place is known for something, and for Pincher Creek it may be that it's in a particularly windy part of Alberta. Due to the strong Cinook winds that blow off the mountains, it is said to have the highest average wind speed of any town in North America. The strong winds have given rise to a significant amount of wind farm development in the area as you can see from my photo in the previous post.

I made the walk from the hotel down into town to use the computer here at the library. Wandering through the tiny bit of suburbia that exists, I feel like I'm in a Gust Van Sant flick; looking around at the houses, my guess is median houshold earnings may be below the national average. The blanket of snow that fell overnight and the struggle of the sun to break through the dark clouds makes it kinda surreal. The lack of human existence also contributes.

Yet, the heads over at Bentonville, Arkansas, obviously feel it is thriving enough to put up a Walmart. And within it is McDonald's where I will start my first shift at 2pm today. Now working at McDonald's in Banff is excusable; I'm there to finance my skiing trip. But working at a Walmart McDonald's in but-hole Alberta is just not what I had in mind.

It would be enough to make you drink. But that is something I'm not participating in for the next 2 weeks as I see beer prices are as high here as they are in Banfff. Having said that, I think this town would lend itself nicely to a bit of petrol sniffing.

posted by Joshiesmoov @ 2:05 PM