I am a good Canadian but I still reserve the right to bitch about the cold!
The windchill in London was -29C all day yesterday. A pal reminded me that it was known to get as low as -72 in Prince George, BC and I do recall early Sunday mornings there when my car seat crunched under my butt. Plugging your vehicle in was a must, not an option. But it’s a dry cold, don’t you know.
Seat warmers help, once they kick in. But there is no way to really combat that kind of cold. You endure it. I just hope the homeless were convinced to go inside and get a hot meal and a warm bed. No one should freeze to death over poverty or pride. Today I’m interviewing a rep from London’s Mission Services. They work in the shadow of the Salvation Army but they’re local, they’re mighty and they help an awful lot of people who are on the sidelines of life.
If nothing else, this weather makes a person grateful for simple things like a door that closes and a furnace that goes on when it’s supposed to. Yes it’s winter and yes I’m Canadian but for our part of the world, this cold snap is just ridiculous. So there will be complaints and there will be toques pulled down over red ears and stamped feet and shivering. And if you say, “just remember how this felt when it’s 35C in the summer heat” I will slap you with my frozen mitten!
After spending a year in Winnipeg with a month of day time highs of -30 and over night lows of -70 with the windchill, I developed a new appreciation for southern Ontario cold weather. Sorry, won’t be hearing me complain, nor my furry friend as we shortly head out for his walk. Mind you, I do have what I call my Winnipeg coat for times like these, normally its to warm to wear.
I lived in Prince George BC and we had similar temps. It was routinely in the -60s or -70s with the windchill. But I will still complain!
I’m with Allan on this. I also have a new appreciation for Southern Ontario winters, after spending a couple of years in North Bay & Sudbury.
Like you, I also had a block heater, and I remember working one New years Day where I didn’t bother to plug in the car, hoping it would get warmer. The high (without the windchill) was -32, and of course there was no way this car was going to start. Thankfully there was one lone camera person for the CTV affiliate who went to work that day, and was able to give me a boost.
But hey, we’re all entitled to speak our minds on the weather… it’s the one thing we all have in common to talk about! 🙂
Sorry Lisa, you can’t have it both ways. You’re either a true Canadian or you bitch about it being too cold. True Canadians don’t bitch about the cold! And they don’t EVER say how cold it is `with the wind chill’. If it’s -35, it’s -35. No-one needs to be told it’s gonna feel colder if there’s a breeze! If that was the case we should be told how cold it will feel if we are wet or if we are wearing nylon instead of fleece. C’mon, toughen up! Have some pride! YOU ARE CANADIAN!!….or are you?
Kevin, just because you can stand outside in the dead of winter wearing only a T-shirt and jeans and feel nothing doesn’t mean the rest of us can do it too! I am Canadian but I am also a wimp. I would never have made it as a pioneer OR I would have convinced everyone in my wagon train that we shouldn’t go any further north than Florida.
That’s the whole point though. Everyone can enjoy the cold , or at the very least, not be so bothered by it. Instead of hiding from it you have to embrace it! Don’t whimper and try to shy away from it, don’t wrap yourself up in huge coats and hats and scarves and mittens and put your hands in your pockets and your head down and be a victim of it. Lift your head up high! Fill your lungs with the clean, cold, crystal-clear, fresh air of winter! Slam your face into the nearest snowdrift (after first ensuring there isn’t a fire hydrant hidden within) and laugh at Old Man Winter! Don’t brag about being weak! Be strong and enjoy real winter while it’s here! Pretty soon it’ll be summer again and you can start bitching about blackflies! Ah, blackflies! I’ll see you soon my little parasitic friends!
Weirdo.
I’m SO with Lisa on this (as I am almost everything). I’d give winter the finger, if I wasn’t sure it’d snap off and blow away in those stiff breezes giving us a wicked wind chill!!!!! LOL
With Lisa on what? The weirdo comment?. Erin…..that’s cold!