Thursday, February 02, 2006

Winter, where art thou?

Is it just me or has the weather been creepily warm? This is February in Canada. We should be hunkered down under blankets, watching Canadian hockey teams almost win the cup, while sipping liquor-laced coffee, and eating the last can of Pringles, since we can’t buy anything else because we broke our credit cards using them to scrape the 5 cm of frost off our windshields.

Instead, we’re wandering the streets in shirt-sleeves, riding our bikes to school, and marveling at the “beautiful” weather. In February. In Canada. I'm not making this up.

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little ripped-off. I miss the snow, the frosty wind, the weather alerts telling me to stay off the roads. Or that my skin will freeze in 20 seconds if I forget to wrap my scarf around my neck. Or stretch my toque over the tips of my ears, lest they ice over and fall off.

We Canadians tend to obsess about the weather. We carp and complain when it gets too cold, but we smugly wear it like a badge when any of our American friends make snide comments about the frigid eight months we call winter. It’s like family; you can call your sister any name under the moon, but if someone from outside your kin so much as breathes badly in her direction – POW!

Like most Canadians, my optimism is tempered by a healthy dose of cautious pessimism. In other words, this weather won’t last. If we like this weather, or even if we don't, it will get cold again. It will snow.  Snow has already walloped eastern Canada (as Bishop Pisiquid will no doubt remind us). My boots are out the closet ready for action. The snow shovel is prepared to do battle against the elements. My hat and mittens are standing by, waiting to be called up.

Now we wait. And as we all know, waiting is the hardest part.

UPDATE: Revised for spelling and grammar.

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