Watching the footage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile has been wrenching: it's really like something out of a dystopian science fiction movie. When the earthquake hit in Haiti, the footage was mostly of the devastation, and also of the rescue efforts. CNN, in particular, covered the disaster in terms of rescue and recovery. But in Chile, the devastation is severe (though, so far, the death count is not nearly as overwhelming as in Haiti), but the desperation, the fear and the anger seem to be primary.

It's very frightening.

However, for entertainment, i did watch the closing ceremonies from the Winter Olympics. Two immediate thoughts: it certainly seemed endless; is everybody Canadian? Even Neil Young showed up. One of the only ones missing from the lineup seemed to be Joni Mitchell. Another Canadian missing was Christopher Plummer (after all, they did have Michael J. Fox, Catherine O'Hara and William Shatner). Have to admit: the final hockey match between the US and Canada was a nailbiter. And the Olympics provided hours of entertainment, and, yes, this year, even curling seemed to be exciting. And you had to admire the Norwegians for wearing those pants! Even the New York Times made a note of those diamond-patterned red pants.

Also on the news was the flooding that has taken place in parts of Europe, specifically Spain and Portugal. That, plus the instability of the economic situation (Greece being a country under financial duress right now) are not exactly signs of the robust outlook which many predicted for Europe just before the Christmas holidays. The news footage of Lisbon under water, with so many houses flooded, was very sad.

The weather is expected to be grey and wet for the next few days... but at least, it's not expected to be freezing! That's such a relief.