Testing the aged infrastructure
Part of any mechanical assembly process is the famous “torture test” suite, where a device is subject to various extremes of environment to see if there will be imminent failure. Not large, unique structures, I suppose, but things that are apt to be duplicated in later installations. So, how can you test things as large as, say, a city? Up here in Canada, we have our own testbed, colloquially known as winter.
There’s a dome of cold air covering the eastern half of the country right now. Been here for days, and it may be the leftover from a system that “hung around” the prairies for a couple of weeks. People are tough up here; we draw the scarf a bit tighter around the nose. We shake our heads as city bus drivers ignore us and drive away. We find reasons to not go outside, and when the dog needs to go, she goes alone. Our city infrastructure doesn’t always hold up.
We’ve had a number of our schools closed over the last two days, as the mercury went down to -42C in some areas. That’s before any wind factor is applied. In Montreal, a number of water mains have betrayed their age by playing “freezing fountains” in the city centre. Imagine coming out to find that your car now is part of a large, uncharted lake area. A solid lake. Toronto has just turned the power back on in a large part of the downtown area. One website urged homeowners to wrap their dogs and cats in blankets. Other, less robust family members were invited to a huge party at the Humane shelter.
Only a couple more days, according to the weather channel.
