Winter Wonderland, My Ass

Sam* completely let me down - that damn groundhog apparently saw his shadow this morning, which means 6 more weeks of winter for us already frozen people in Nova Scotia (little asshole - it's all fine for him, he's got a fuzzy, thick coat to protect his hide).

(*In case you didn't figure this out, Shubenacadie Sam is our version of Punxsutawney Phil-see right)

I was sick of winter back, oh, around the beginning of last November, so to say that this development pisses me off would be a massive understatement. I HATE winter and cold - really, I should have been born in Hawaii or something - so forgive me if the fact that I have to endure it for a further 6 weeks is not music to my ears.

Sure, winter is pretty in a I-can't-feel-my-fingers-but-the-lake-sure-does-look-chillingly-pretty-the-way-the-sun-is-hitting-it kind of way, but for the most part it sucks. The only time I like winter is when I'm looking at it outside the window of my apartment wearing layers of sweaters, sweatpants and socks and drinking some kind of hot beverage, with the knowledge that I don't have to go out there anytime soon.

I think anyone outside of Canada who doesn't know much about our country and can't sympathize with having to experience winter for half the year (and given the general view of us Canucks as happy but simple folk) probably thinks we just LOVE winter so much that we frolic through the snowbanks with idiotic grins on our faces.

Ok, maybe not. But, at the very least, when people outside of Canada really THINK about Canada and what it's all about, many think first about snow and ice and cold. I remember being in Harrods in London a few years ago when one of the friendly doormen asked us where we were from. When I said "Canada", the first words out of his mouth were something to the effect of: "It's really cold there, innit?". And the girl I was with was from OHIO and he didn't say ANYTHING even remotely relating to the climate in her home! I mean, I've never been to Ohio but I can imagine it's not exactly Palm Beach!

I tried to explain that we do in fact have seasons where it's NOT cold, in an effort to make my country as pictured in this man's mind sound less like a barren ice flow. But to no avail...and really, who am I kidding?! He's totally right! It IS fucking cold here! Even in the summer, it can hover around the mid-teens and is often cloudy and/or rainy (though the Fall really is quite a lovely time of year here).

I suppose I'm especially bitter about the cold today since I missed my bus connection (stupid Metro Transit) and had to walk partway to work in -15 windyness, but is everyone with me in saying that this winter really has been particularly shitty?? Is that just me?? It's been consistently -15 and windy and dry pretty much every day, we've had like 4 snowstorms (and the snow from the last one has hung around for like a month), and I have to bundle up every inch of my body in about 50 layers every day before I leave for work. My poor hair is so dry it doesn't want to do anything except stick right up or out in staticky single strands and....well, I could go on and on...

And there's still 6 MORE WEEKS OF THIS??!! If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go stuff myself with 10 pizzas and crawl into a cave to hibernate until May...