Coincident without coincidence
I am unable to remember the title, but there’s a book that lists all the regular saints, along with the coincindent date. Useful, in its context. Hopelessly particular, at the same time. As we swing through the vernal equinox (which is imprecisely dated, apparently), I’ve noticed that the date is linked to the feast of Saint Patrick. Stay with me; I’ll explain my why.
Last night, we had a particularly stormy night. Heavy rain, some ice, a short power outage. What people tend to call “the Saint Patrick storm”. The dates are coincident with the equinox, but any storm is pure conicidence. No, we don’t get a storm every year at this time.
In earlier times, people kept a printed magazine called “The Farmer’s Almanac” around the house. My grandpatents, my parents, me (from time to time). There was a new edition offered every year, because the dates for almost every thing change. Go ahead” tell me when Easter will be. Or even the next full moon. Regular things. We don’t keep such information close at hand. Even mess, now that we are in the GE (Google Era). No, I don’t have this year’s almanac. Coincidence.
The storm swept through, without incident, and we’re now on the slope to Spring. Early or late? That’s why people purchased the almanac. The frulgal memorized simple couplets. Devoid of validity. No, March doesn’t come “in like a … out like a … And spring will fall (sorry) when it will, even though the equinox can be calculated. Conicidence, but not colicident.
And as for this year’s version, we feared an ice storm. It came, and went, quickly. No broken trees. No frozen car doors. That power outage was little more than a test for genny.
