I sort of regret my recent infantile rant (fashionistas--those girls and guys that look like Diesel babes) but I'm still wondering why exactly they vex me, and why I feel so protective of the weather and those who revel in it. Do I want folks to roll about on the white in fur-lined parkas? Not necessarily. But, heck, I don't even know what I want to eat for supper tonight. And isn't it supposed to be a curse to get what you want, anyway?
At any rate, the cold of yesterday was one of those unique experiences when Nature seemed to get the better of technology. The roads were slippery, the buildings cold, and many people apparently just stayed home. It might have been a bad day for Commerce, I don't know. But it was an inkling of what my ancestors went through--just the barest taste mind you--and I appreciate that. True, it was a while before I could accept that I'd turned the heat in my apartment as far as it would go and yet it wasn't working anymore. It's a bit bizarre to eat dinner while swaddled in a wool blanket. Stuff, like the heat, the insulation, just didn't work as it should, either in my hovel or in the office building of my employ. It was a wake-up call. Some people in Russia have lower temps and no heating...it must be truly horrible there. I missed the ice storm of '98--I don't know what it's like to live in winter without heat and electricity, and so, I guess, I enjoy what little pangs of mortality winter can give me because of the novelty. I'm as wrapped up in the Shackleton-extravaganza as anyone. I want to live a Jack London story. I suppose that, deep down, I want to know that Nature/foul weather could squash me flat. And why? Heavens, that's another post.
Just why do people willingly trek in polar climes? If I had the cash, I'd go north to volunteer for the Yukon Quest---I'm craving to see and feel what I am missing. Do I need to feel brave? beset by adversaries more tangible and satisfying than boredom? Speaking of which, I really ought to return to my job-
posted by cs 10:38 AM
Good Morning! The temp here is -20 C, and the windchill a balmy -30 C (forgive me, I'm too lazy to hunt up the farenheit). A week ago, - 30 was crippling, but after yesterday, it's a treat. It's all relative, anyhow. Last April, the temp suddenly rose to 17 C after wavering at or below zero, and everyone went nuts. All the snow melted away and people (including myself) shucked off coats and hats and gloves and ran about in t-shirts--some folks were in shorts and tank tops, even. Some stores set up impromptu sidewalk sales. Lots of people (including myself) didn't go back to work after lunch...the streets were packed. And then, a few months later during the summer, when the temp was warmer (about 30 C), there was this day when the temp went down to 16--it was freezing! I think I wore a sweater.
Though I wish I was living somewhere else right now (and am saving up to move), I appreciate the variety of weather I have experienced since moving here. The hottest day was at about 37 C (45 or more with humidex), and the coldest was yesterday, -40 C. Not bad grist for a weather junkie.
I am annoyed, however, by the way a lot of people here (especially drivers) are in denial of winter. Yesterday's extreme forced folks to bundle up properly, but once the wind dies down, I suppose I'll see those glam girls tottering about in their high heels. I guess they're keeping pretty warm what with those fur-lined earflap hats and puffy thermal coats being en vogue, but the footwear has a bit of a ways to go. As for the attitude---folks just don't realize that it's way colder elsewhere. Some people take the cold personally, as though a polar air current veered south just so that they might be tempered with the trials of Job.
I wish I knew more about Scandinavia's winters...I've heard tidbits on the radio that suggest that the citizens there embrace winter, dress properly, plot x-country ski trails within cities, etc. Dunno if they rake snow into ridges instead of clearing it and dumping a lot of salt...that Yellowknife (or is it Whitehorse?) solution seems so smart and environmentally sound. I imagine that the sight of snow would increase caution and decrease speed, and certainly, some drivers here are in need of such a visual reminder.
I was going to write instead of the polar exploration/Peary/Shack mania...somehow, I've veered. The streets are still depopulated, and most people there are dressed properly, and so it's a contrast to what I've seen the rest of the winter. True, a lot of kids go through a stage of winter defiance...but that's a topic for another entry, and the fashionistas that irk me are way older than they'd like to think they are.
Alright...before I sign off...just why do they annoy me so much, those Beautiful People? Is it because I live and work downtown and can't escape them? Or because they are taller and prettier than me and have so much more money to spend (hey, maybe that's it)...or maybe it's because they seem to think this city on par with Paris or New York (uh...ask the Parisiens about that, and you'll likely hear 'Ou?') Maybe because so many of them drive SUVs--I even saw a stretch Hummer once, no joke. Or maybe it's because they represent, in my addled frozen mind, a homogenizing influence upon what culture we do have here. They're not expressing themselves or their land/weatherscape, they're a magazine advert personified.
I suppose what I really need is a good skate.
Cheers!
posted by cs 7:56 AM
ah, my first day a la blog, and I'm already obsessing about it as much as the weather. Who else looks up the temps for Saskatoon and Old Crow just 'because' and not because they live there or know anyone personally who does? Who else reminisces about childhood snow architecture while at a not-very-intellectually-stimulating job?--oh, other folks see their fancy fly off in all directions too, but in pursuit of ice? Or that slightly mildewy smell of drying snowpants?
I remember one snow fort I built that had a basement. A big snowfall buried the original fort, and so I dug a new one, with a tunnel sloping down to the old. I felt so dangerous slipping down into the cellar....
posted by cs 2:00 PM
Another note~
"Great Scott, we've lost our young'un--fetch the dogs--scour the snowy wastes--"...and, hours later, when the shadows are lengthening into the deepening gloom, the pathetic spectacle of a small teal-coloured snowsuit being gently chipped out of a small icy grotto...
no, it never happened like that.
posted by cs 1:27 PM
A note about the childhood snow forts~they were, in my case, a form of rebellion, against the weather and parental supervision alike. My parents deemed fresh air healthy, but when the mercury plummetted, preparing for the elements was very time-consuming. And so, I suppose, I resented having to pull on all these little bits of wool and cloth and leather. And those snowpants made Nature's Call seem a long ways away. 'Cause I had to haul all that junk on my tender young frame, I made sure to maximize the effort expended.
So, once I was Out, a snow fort was a way of staying Out, and, conversely, within. I could last a lot longer when shielded by the snow, and Construction was less boring than running about and lobbing snowballs or whatever, and, if I was especially clever, I could escape scrutiny. I thought that if I was out of sight of all windows, I would remain out of mind until I knocked on the door to be let in, and THEN my parents would be so consumed with guilt over their forgetfulness that they would give me something especially tasty and rare to eat, or some other miraculous treat. Unfortunately, it never quite worked out that way. My parents simply didn't thaw out that way, bless them. I don't know if I even scared them "oh, where is our child????"...but it was childishly gratifying to think I did.
Cheers!
posted by cs 12:41 PM
Greetings! The weather today has brought me back to my childhood ramblings in the prairies. Ah, those frigid spittle-crackling days of yesteryear, those teeth-freezing polar blasts....those hours 'pon hours of burrowing deep within the ridges of snow, scrabbling further and further into dark dark warmth and then (succumbing to ambitions of interior design) digging upwards and out, until the fatal blue-tinged points of light manifested and the inevitable Collapse ensued. I simply loved those snow forts, surveying their plots, snapping shovels while breaking the snow until I was forced to claw and kick with mittened hands and booted feet until the hole was large enough to crawl into. Ah, what bliss! And every subsequent inch, a Triumph! This was not the Art of Igloo Making but something much more random and misguided and, dare I say it?, primal.
And now? Despite a cold temp. and a biting wind~windchill -40 C (-41 F) this morning~there is not enough snow, and if there was, I am too aged and too busy to build a fort. But I appreciate the novelty of the cold, for it has been a while since I've felt the like. In fact, when I retired my old winter coat a few years ago, I didn't bother to replace it. I've been wearing (until this year) un-insulated army boots in the winter, which necessitated much re-polishing to battle the creeping salt marks. The past few winters have been gritty mucky slush--a few nice clumpy snowstorms intersperced with the drab dampness of melting dirty snow.
Such a relief (however skin-tingling), to return to the cold dry clean winter of the Prairies. Not much snow, just tiny little pellets whipping about. The streets are depopulated and the people there are bundled up to the eyeballs. Even their gender is sometimes masked. I feel like I'm walking in a nest of furtive bandits, and I'm one of them!
posted by cs 10:59 AM