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Weather or not
This might be my last Sunday in sunny Brandon for a wee while. It’s been a real eyeopener, here on the Canadian Prairies in the “near winter”. The good folks of Manitoba seem to take the cold and the snow in their stride. It’s an adaptation thing, I suppose. What surprises me most is the Brandon folks see no reason to clear snow from the roads, sidewalks or parking lots. One day, I mentioned it to a checkout clerk in Sobey’s and she told me, “The snow god put it there. The snow god will take it away in good time.” This was the same woman who, upon seeing me bundled against the harsh elements, asked me if I were visiting or just passing through. I guess I wear my obsession with being warm and un-frostbitten, most obviously. I took a tentative look at the people in the line behind me and was surprised to see I was the only person dressed as I would consider “appropriately” for minus sixteen weather. Heck, the guy behind me didn’t even have a jacket on. He looked as if he were just picking up a few forgotten things for a picnic alongside the Assiniboine.
To be clear, I’m not complaining about the cold, or the snow. I love all weather, and winter-type conditions are bound to happen at this time of year. It just never occurred to me that people could go from plus 30 to minus 30 within a month and not be bothered by it. Manitobans have an entirely different approach to the elements. It’s not unusual to see the people of Brandon out-of doors without jackets or hats or mittens or warm pants, even in these Arctic (to me) temperatures. The “mommy” in me wants to yell at them. “Go back inside, right now, and don’t come out without a warm scarf and hat that covers your ears”. The best I can do is snuggle up in my jacket and pull my scarf up over my nose. One day I was so appalled about the condition of the roads I decided to speak to someone at Brandon City Hall. The Customer Service Representative really didn’t want to hear my impression of the dangerous conditions of the sidewalks. She sweetly told me it was every property owner’s civic duty to clear their own sidewalks and private parking lots. I countered with, “Well, what about the roads?”. She responded, “What about them? The City responds to winter snow events if the roads are unsafe to navigate and the response is tailored to the magnitude of the event.” It sounded to me like other Non-atobans and made enquiries of this nature before and a script had been prepared for the tourists of the cold weather season.
It’s been a month of Manitoba. I’m ready to be at home to face the lake effect weather of Prince Edward. I love my kid and her kid, but it’s time to be in my own place with LOML. Yeah, I miss him. He counts his days away in butter tarts and cookies left to be eaten. And by the time you read this, I should be back at home. I’m sure I’ll be there on time for the real onset of winter, but I’ll be at home. I’ll be able to go to my closet and dig out my great big parka and those ugly, yet impressively warm, boots to face the cold. And, believe it or not, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this winter in Canada will be colder, blowier, snowier and winterier than any we’ve experienced in a long time. Heck, by January I could be writing about how the winter of 2018/19 compares to the winter of 1977 or the ice storm of 1998. Who knows? Maybe I could write a book about winter weather. I’d call it, It’s Never too Cold to Complain about the Weather.
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