MillieF

Apologies woodworm...all the people in my Godforsaken spot

ExKiwilass

lovely day here, nice and sunny and not in iminent danger of freezing a limb off

MarylandNed

Loads of different reasons. What's yours?

izzi81

This is my first Canadian winter (so I'll use that as my excuse), and I've really enjoyed it! I know, it's a novelty, but I'd take cold weather and blue sky over grey and rain any day. Most days in Scotland, whatever the season, were grey and rain. Here it's cold, snowy and beautiful, plus I know in the summer there will be weeks of blue sky, sunshine and heat!
Granted we've not lost power and had to sit in the cold, or come off the road with the ice (though we had a close call), and we have a neighbour who shares our drive and plows it with his tractor, and it probably helps to be self-employed and so not up at dawn and trying to quickly de-ice the truck, but I'll be a little disappointed if next year's winter is less snowy

I didn't move here with aspirations of amazing snowy cold winters either, I joked in November that we probably wouldn't get much snow. I was a bit wrong there lol.

Siouxie

I think if you were having to clear your driveway by hand several times a day, having to drive to go to work and all that that entails your thoughts about winter would be completely different.

BristolUK

Seems a good time to re-post this

Diary of a Snow Shoveler

December 8: 6:00 p.m. The first snow of the season. My wife and I sat for hours watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9: Woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow. Moving here was the best idea I’ve ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. The snow plow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again.

December 12: The sun melted all our lovely snow. My neighbor Bob said not to worry, we’ll have so much snow by the end of winter that I’ll never want to see snow again.

December 14: It snowed 8” last night. The temperature dropped to 20°F. The cold makes everything sparkle so. I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. The snowplow came back and buried everything again. I didn’t realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling.

December 15: 12-14 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4×4 Blazer. Bought 2 extra shovels. My wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that’s silly.

December 16: Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like heck. My wife laughed for an hour, which I think was cruel.

December 17: Roads too icy to go anywhere. Electricity’s been off for 5 hours. Piled blankets on to stay warm. Guess I should’ve bought a wood stove, but won’t admit it to her. I hate it when she’s right.

December 20: Electricity’s back on, but had another 14 inches of the white stuff last night. More shoveling. Stupid snowplow came by twice. Called the only hardware store around about buying a snow blower and they’re out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they’re lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he’s lying.

December 22: 13 more inches of the white crap fell today, and it’s so cold it probably won’t melt till August. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he’s too busy. I think the jerk is lying.

December 23: Only 2” of snow today and it warmed up to 0. My wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. Why didn’t she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she’s lying.

December 24: Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the idiot who drives that snowplow, I’ll drag him through the snow. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 mph and throws snow all over where I’ve just been! Tonight my wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the stinkin’ snowplow.

December 25: Merry Christmas. Snowed in. I hate the snow! The snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. My wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she’s an idiot.

December 26: Still snowed in. Why did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She’s really getting on my nerves.

December 27: Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze. December 29: 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave-in. That’s the silliest thing I ever heard.

December 30: Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for $100,000 for the bump on his head. My wife went home to her mother. 9” predicted.

December 31: Set fire to what’s left of the house. No more shoveling!

January 8: I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

Former Lancastrian

So tonights overnight low with the wind chill is minus 30 C. I will get up at 3.30 am Sat morning and go to the airport. I will arrive in Puerto Vallarta around 2pm where the forecast for the next seven days is around the 30 to 33 C.
**** YOU WINTER.
Sitting in the sun waiting for a senorita to show,
He just playing melodies from Spain and Mexico,
Soft wind blowing the smell of sweet roses to, each and every one,
Happy to be on an island in the sun,

Sealaig

I have never complained about the winter once since I have been here, Our winters are nothing compared to other places in Canada.

caretaker

Someone notify Aduanas Mexicana to get the glove on - time for some payback!
And enjoy your holiday.

dbd33

Sickness is another aspect of winter which is unattractive. People who have children are forever taking time off work because the children are sick or the parents are sick. I don't suppose people in Australia live for all eternity but I imagine they cough, splutter and spit a great deal less.

Jingsamichty

Remember not to fold your customs card when you come back. Apparently it's very important.

AlliF

Having spent 7 years living in Australia I would say they cough and splutter and spit exactly the same amount as they do over here.
And spend a great deal of their time hiding inside with the aircon on full blast, trying to avoid frying and complaining about how hot and dry it is(or hot and sticky depending on which end of the country you live in)

AlliF

Very jealous. We were there at the end of January, having been informed that we should be over the brunt of winter and February would warm up a bit. Would have waited a bit had we known how wrong they were goddammit!
Funny it's the only the second time I've been on a plane where the passengers clapped with relief, at touchdown in Mexico (the other was for landing a plane on the tiniest ever runway at the edge of an island in the Maldives).
Off to swimming tomorrow morning with a forecast of -28 windchill. Again.
Enjoy your holiday.

Siouxie

I was in the Maldives 30 odd years ago, the runway strip (island) they had was absolutely tiny with water either side of you, you left the plane and walked to an open air processing area before getting on a boat to leave the airport. Is it still like that?

Have a great vacation FL.

leith

Having lived in different parts of Canada for more than forty years, I'm quite familiar with the "joys" of winter in most of the country. The wet, heavy snow in Ontario is horrible, the prairie winters are dry but by no means as sunny as many folks would like to believe and are long and bitterly cold with winds adding to the misery. We considered the Okanagan but the winters there tend to be gloomy and depressing. We now live on Vancouver Island where it's rainy from about December through February but with next to no snow and still lots of sunny days. This year, there were just a couple of days of snow and it was and soon gone. We were out on the beach on Christmas day and we've had crocuses blooming since the third week of January. With the irises and daffodils now out, we spare a passing though for the slush, dirt, potholes and impending floods in much of the rest of Canada as winter drags.