SNOW *shakes tiny fist*

[selenay]

I am noting for posterity that it snowed today. Only for a couple of hours and it was wet slushy stuff that didn't settle for long, but still. SNOW. SLIPPERY ROADS. SNOW.

And it's not even the first time! That was on Wednesday.

I think it's time to admit this: I fucking hate Canadian winters.

There. I said it.

I loathe snow. I miss the kind of winters where, if you got snow, it lasted for a day or two and melted and that was it for the year. I miss winters that are cold and often a bit soggy, but not a shitshow of snow and ice for four months.

I miss winters where I don't feel afraid every time I step outside in case I fall on the inevitable ice. I hate being unable to look away but at the same time hating to check the weather forecast because it'll probably include another massive storm coming to trap me in the house again. I'm tired of being nervous every time the ground looks slightly shiny or wet, in case it's actually ice because it's always ice. I don't mind the cold, but I hate all the other parts that come with winter.

I miss being able to get out and do things whenever I want through the winter. I miss liking winter and loving autumn, instead of seeing the leaves turning as the harbinger of winter hell.

In short, I hate winter here. I really, really do.

Comments

[executrix]

I completely understand your feelings about winter. WRT ice, can you get those things that strap over your boots/shoes to provide better traction?

[selenay]

I had some when I first moved here and I never found them that helpful. Maybe I just hadn't found the right version, though?

[kore]

My sympathies, snow is terrible! It snowed here, BARELY, on my b-day, and I was like DEVIL'S DANDRUFF, GET OUT

[selenay]

Devil's dandruff. I love that :-)

[lilacsigil]

I have never been in temperatures lower than -5C so stories of Canadian Winter are foreign and strange to me! But I am a clumsy person, so having ice on the ground that I have to walk on sounds terrifying.

[selenay]

It really, really is! I sprain and dislocate easily due to wonky joints so I'm always terrified when there's ice on the ground.

[umadoshi]

Our winters are so gross. >.< I hope we avoid the horrible towering mountains of snow this year.

(Toronto winters are gross in a completely different but equally bad way. It always amused me that people here thought Toronto winters would be a nightmare, and Toronto folks thought here would be worse. No. Just very different.)

re: grippy slip-on things for boots, I've tried both the spiky kind and the kind made of...coils, I guess? FWIW, the spiky ones were much more use for walking on ice, but felt very weird when walking on pavement.

[selenay]

I hope we avoid the horrible towering mountains of snow this year.

Oh god, so do I. There is a limit and when the snowbanks on my driveway are taller than me, we're way past my limit!

I think it was the coil ones I tried and they didn't help much. The spiky ones look better for ice, but I always worried about damaging my front deck and driveway by walking on non-icy bits while wearing spikes.

[nic]

This makes me glad I picked Vancouver (for the weather) - we only have a few weeks at most like this, and I have never been snowed in.

I feel for you. :( I would not be able to handle that. (Which city/town are you closest to?)

[selenay]

Vancouver is a good choice. I've been snowed in multiple times. I've been *iced* in and required rescue by a neighbour with an axe. I do not recommend winters here.

I'm closest to Halifax. Everyone thinks the Maritimes can't be as bad as somewhere like Manitoba but no. It's bad in entirely different ways. Halifax is hilly. Thick ice and hills do not mix well.

[nic]

I had no idea that area was so hilly - it just reinforces my determination to visit there someday!

[selenay]

It's hilly enough for buses to get hopelessly stuck on certain roads the moment it starts snowing. Which is a problem, because the road they often really struggle with is one of the main arteries that they all use through the centre of the city!