How cool?

As you may already be aware, one of the things I was most concerned about when I knew I was making the trip over here to Canada was the weather. As someone with pathetically poor circulation, who therefore doesn't fair well in cold temperatures, I had no idea what really cold (i.e. sub -10c) felt like or how I would cope with it. Well, as it's been knocking around the -15 to -25 mark for the past couple of days, I'd like to share with you the things I've learnt.

I believe it was Billy Connelly who first said that there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. How true. My thermals, multiple layers of clothes, goose down coat, insulated boots, ski mittens, scarves and array of toques (woolly hats, to those back home) work a bloody treat and despite the well-below-freezing temperatures, I usually find myself toasty warm. In fact, I can usually only really feel how cold it is on my face, which then necessitates pulling my scarf up over my mouth and nose; Kate & I ably demonstrated this technique only this evening, and though admittedly we did look like we were about to pull a bank job, so did every other person on the street. To my utmost surprise, I rarely 'lose' my fingers (my term for when the Reynaud's kicks in) as long as I'm wearing my mittens, which are far far superior to gloves by the way, though if you have to remove them for any reason it's amazing how quickly you realise how bloody cold it is without them.

That said, my body temperature must have adjusted considerably in recent weeks. This afternoon, I popped out of the guest services building to pick up a bottle of 7up. I was dressed in my uniform, which consists of a thin quarter-zip top, under a sort-of fleece jacket, which I had unzipped. As I got outside, I thought to myself, oh, it's not too cold actually, and so I ambled over to buy my drink, only noticing as I made my leisurely way back on the thermometer outside the ticket windows that it was, in fact, -19c. Now, once upon a time in the very recent past, I would have been terrified at the thought of temperatures as low as that. I would have assumed that I would have turned into a popsicle within seconds. But in fact I now know that it's really not that bad and more importantly, I can cope with it. And thank goodness for that, given that it's not likely to get much warmer in the foreseeable future...