Cold

Cold is very much on my mind. I come from Canada. I grew up in Saskatchewan. I know cold.

But I don't like it. Why do people here think I would get jolly in the cold? Just because I've lived in it, doesn't mean I like it any better than they do. It just means I think it's less fruitful to complain about the cold. Now, complaining about stereotypes about how I must love the cold, that's something to complain about!

It is cold here. Somehow, this coastal cold is colder than dry prairie cold. It feels that way.

I think I'm also colder here because I have to take transit everywhere (and no, I don't take an underground subway - which would be very nice in this weather). I also have yet to be in a home that is properly insulated. I don't doubt such buildings exist, but in the kinds of homes my colleagues and I can afford to live in, the wind sneaks in through windows and doors at an alarming rate. I see $$ float by everytime the temperature drops and dread getting the gas bill. And the kind of building that English departments get put into is the same kind - it is either exceedingly hot (and you're wearing a turtleneck) or frigid and you have wear gloves to type.

I don't understand why these places aren't properly insulated. We have the technology. Maybe this is why they need to go to war to keep fuel prices low. Hmmmmm.