Mother Nature has taken leave from playing games.... She's turned her winter furnace on...... And I don't like it much... But She didn't ask my opinion, and never will... This is one of the perks of being Canadian, I guess... And the further North you go, it tends to get colder...
We had been spoiled by above seasonal temperatures... Granted they were just a few degrees over freezing, but hey, who am I kidding? I'll take it! There was a bit of a threat of snow just around Halloween. Mother Nature has decided to get "back to normal", whatever Alberta considers to be normal this time of year. (All I can hear is that commercial, Get back to normal, whatever your normal is.) I could feel the cold weather coming in my knees... They started to ache about a week ago. The high temperatures are now below 0 degrees Celsius... The slick streets of rain soaked streets was a sign of what was to come, and what was to come arrived today in form of light snow... I think this is the beginning of the end, snow will most likely be here until the Spring Thaw. I hope the wind, and the wind chill factor it brings, keeps to a minimum this year!
I remember back in BC, cousins from Australia had made the long trek over seas for a Christmas Vacation. (Crazy, I know.) They were excited to experience snow, some for the first time. (Some of my Aussie cousins were born and partially raised here in Canada, so they had snow experience. The friend or two they brought over however, were the opposite. They were born and raised in Oz, and therefore snow was a treat for them to play in.) They waited... And waited... And waited... But the snow never came. They had to make the drive up to Silver Star Mountain, one of the local ski hills, to allow the snow first timers to actually see snow. It was one of a few "Green" Christmases I remember in Vernon... Although, I've got to be honest with you... They're more like "Brown" Christmases. Doesn't leave one very festive, I can tell you that.
I remember my first winter in Edmonton... I could have cried, almost on a daily basis. I was spoiled by being raised in the Interior of BC, where if you see -20 Celsius for a week straight it's considered cold. Well, Alberta cold is a little different from BC cold. Alberta cold is drier, and way colder than -20. I called my Mum on her birthday at the end of October. I had just gotten home from work, and I was freeeeeeeezing! I stripped off my boots and socks as I talked to her and told her I'd have to call her back, she asked why... I told her because my feet were purple and I wanted to go have a shower to make them the right colour again... She gave me motherly grief and told me I was living in Alberta now, I could wear more than one pair of socks.... I was though! At the time I was wearing three pairs of socks and boots that were supposedly rated to -25 Degrees... I've acclimatized since... The first couple weeks of the season always usually suck though!
There are reports of the treacherous QEII having cars slid off to the side already. (The QEII = Highway 2/Queen Elizabeth Highway that runs from Edmonton to Calgary.) I believe it, this highway scares the hell out of me, and for good reason. This time last year I was working in Leduc, considered a surrounding area of Edmonton, and I was on my way home from work and got cut off on the highway... Well, I had shit tires on there, hit ice and fish tailed into the ditch. I wound up writing off my car and losing the job. It's alright though, we hit seriously -50 last winter... We were the 2nd coldest place on the planet that day... Second only to a place in stinking Siberia! It didn't feel a degree over -30, but when it gets that cold, how are you going to regulate the difference? (Other than machinery starting not to wanna work!) I hate this time of year sometimes! (If it weren't for Christmas, I think I'd try to by pass the season totally.. I admire those who were smart enough to have homes down south for the shitty winter, and lake front property for the summer.)
I realize no one can control the weather. (Wouldn't that be some shit if we could, eh?) I know there are certain people who love this time of year... Whether it be for the skating, skiing, snowboarding etc... Or for the sheer fact they prefer the colder temperatures... I'm not one of those people... I can feel a drastic change of temperature coming through the aches in my knees... Because of my hooped knee situation, I'm not one for winter sports... Hell, I'm liable to fall on my ass on the way to the car and take myself out of commission for a week... I've done it before... And I can't take extreme temperatures... Hot or Cold.. What can we do though, except to accept it and prepare for it... Or we'll just be those annoying, bitch about the weather types... No one likes a whiner!
It's not always about me; if it were, snow would appear on the 23rd of December and bugger off on the 2nd of January! (Except on the ski slopes, I'll compromise with y'all there!) And there's no excuse for such cold weather! -15 tops!
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