Just about everywhere in North America, the weather has been weird this summer. Global implications aside, meteorological oddness can play havoc with our sense of exactly what day, month or season it is.

Exacerbating that confusion is that this may be the most seasonally-jumbled time of the year, with back-to-school promotions beginning almost immediately after the previous school year ends, and the ever-earlier appearance of Christmas anticipation.

Most of this calendrical consternation is driven by climate change and the retail cycle, but now the Canadian Red Cross has got in on the act. It sent journalists always-valuable water safety information – couched as pre-season advice, but issued on the Friday before the penultimate summer holiday weekend (in most of Canada).
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