Re: Out of the loop for a few days

[Yves Pelletier <ypell@cam.org>]

On Thu, 8 Jan 1998, Yves Pelletier wrote:

> I am dealing with a bit of a professional emergency at the
> moment.  Since I am involved in a few discussion threads in this
> list, and a couple of personal exchanges with members of the
> list, I just wanted to let you know the reason for my probable
> silence in the next couple of days.
> 

Well, I'm back, sort of.  For those who did not know, a major
weather disaster struck southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, in
the form of three major ice-storms in quick succession.  The
storm caused incredible damage to trees, power lines and
pylones, and telephone lines. 

Millions of people have been without power, in the dead of
winter, for an entire week now.  The relief effort has been
going non-stop for the last 7 days, but until Friday the storm
was destroying power lines much faster than they could be fixed. 
In some areas the damage was so severe that the power grid has
to be rebuilt from scratch, and it will take 2-3 weeks.  I was
among the lucky ones who had power through most of the ordeal,
but many of my colleagues and relatives have had a harrowing
week.  They are exhausted, and I will be called upon to fill in
for them for a while.

All this off-topic stuff to say that I am still following the
list with interest, but currently lack the time to be closely
involved.

Yves