Sunday, October 25, 2015

Things I Will Miss About Canada, Pt 2: Relationship With The Weather


As they are with distance, the people of Canada are as hard as fucking nails when it comes to the weather.

For e.g., here is a Canadian train dealing with snow:


And here is an English train dealing with snow:


"Snow is nothing but trouble", he moaned.  Precisely.

In case the point is not clear enough, I have taken some time out of my "busy schedule" (pronounced "skedjooll", rhymes with "Medjool") to build a simple chart  that will demonstrate exactly what I mean. In it, I compare reactions to various temperature levels, England* vs. Canada**.

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader points out that the scale below should be C not F.   And now we may begin:

In the winter in England, all you would have to do to get out of the house would be put on a coat, scarf and gloves and grumble a bit (maybe scrape a bit of frost off the windscreen), and get on your way. In Canada, you have to get special snow tyres put on and stock up on 100L of de-icer - then every day, you:
  1. Check weather the night before
  2. Wake up, see if car is still visible under 15ins of snow, realise it is not
  3. Drink coffee, get dressed quickly
  4. Put on large coat, big boots, insulated gloves, hat, scarf etc
  5. Pick up snow shovel, sigh
  6. Dig car out of snow
  7. Dig drive out of snow
  8. Sweat
  9. Take off large coat, big boots, gloves, hat, scarf etc
  10. Steam
  11. Have breakfast, have shower, put on clothes
  12. Put on large coat, big boots, insulated gloves, hat, scarf etc
  13. Make way to car already under another 4 ins of snow 
  14. Turn on car, hope it starts
  15. Wait for heating to take temperature inside car from -25 to -10
  16. Drive off
  17. Hope to fuck the snowplough has been.
I will miss this very much, and am already preparing myself not to shout CALL THIS COLD? TRY SAYING THAT TO A CANADIAN!!! at the first English person who moans about the cold when I get back.   Still, at least I'll only need one coat. 

Pip "a few degrees off thermals!" Pip

NWM


* When I say 'England', I probably mean lily-livered Southerners, of which I am one. As any fule kno, the Scottish and Northerners are as hard as fucking nails and should not be messed with in any circumstances. I cannot speak for the Welsh.
** When I say 'Canada', I mean East Coast Canada, or more specifically Quebec, where I live. As we all know Toronto has semi-tropical climate compared to that of Quebec, and Vancouver's climate is like that of Swansea. I have never been to the prairies, Alberta, the Northern Territories, etc. 











3 comments:

Nellig said...

Masterful.

NON-WORKINGMONKEY said...

Too kind, dear Nellig. Too kind.

Bytowner said...

You are leaving this country just when you have mastered the secret dress code?!
It will be a duller less witty place when you are gone, however will console self with thoughts of having prettiest leader in G7, or G20 or whatever, and continue to follow adventures in non-working.
Await things you will miss instalment on Rush, also on breathless media coverage of said leader.

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