Six days ago, I got a light dusting.
Yesterday, I walked to work through sludge and tore my best trousers on a fence while trying to avoid a massive slush puddle that cars were using to drench me.
Today, there is proper snowfall outside – at a level where West Coast schoolchildren could be forgiven for expecting school to be cancelled. The prospect of month after month of weather like this makes me nervous. It also makes it increasingly clear that I am going to need to make another capital outlay for winter gear. I thought I was done spending money on the very expensive move from Oxford to Ottawa once I managed to get furniture and curtains for my flat. Not so.
Just 29 days until I escape (briefly) to the relative paradise of Vancouver.
Looks like you aren’t too much of a wuss:
Winter’s first blast arrives in Central Canada
Published: Thursday, November 22, 2007
Cities in Central Canada are trying to cope with Mother Nature’s first blast of winter on Thursday.
Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and other cities because of a storm pattern that is delivering a mix of snow and freezing rain.
A snowfall warning is in effect for the nation’s capital where Environment Canada is predicting heavy snow, possibly adding up to 10 to 15 centimetres. School buses in several regions in and around Ottawa were cancelled Thursday morning because of the weather conditions.
It’s Gorgeous! Buy a buss pass, they have eco-passes for government workers, and surely you have a ski jacket and winterboots? Then you keep ‘work shoes’ at the office so that you don’t trudge around in boots all day.
Wait until the canal freezes and skating starts, and then skiing at the local mountains is always arranged through groups at EC. And it is $10 for night skiing at Cascades on Wednesdays.
But you can always hibernate and grumble. But it does become a long winter that way. When you go home for three weeks of rain over Christmas you might revist your fanciful notions of paradise.
Next Friday’s Critical Mass is likely to be poorly attended.
When you go home for three weeks of rain over Christmas you might revist your fanciful notions of paradise.
There is something a bit paradisical about a place where you will not die of exposure if forced to spend a night outside. A few puddles aren’t too high a price for that – especially when coupled with natural beauty and unending throngs of fit young kayakers.
Your wonderland is at hand
Ottawa Citizen, Canada – 21 Nov 2007
Depending on the track of a storm from the American southwest, Ottawa could see 10 to 15 centimetres of snow by the end of Thursday.
But you can always hibernate and grumble. But it does become a long winter that way. When you go home for three weeks of rain over Christmas you might revist [sic] your fanciful notions of paradise.
I agree that it is better to look for benefits than it is to complain. I also maintain that Vancouver is a better city than Ottawa in every way.
This entry may be unfairly critical. I was a lot more upbeat when it last snowed in Oxford.
Here is a video I recorded on my way to lunch today.
That video certainly doesn’t make it look good, but wait until you can get some serene photos of a snow-covered Gatineau Park.
Brace for cold, Canadians warned The Canadian Press
November 30, 2007 at 10:56 AM EST
TORONTO — Environment Canada says it appears the country will have to endure its coldest winter in almost 15 years as everyone is reminded what a real Canadian winter feels like.