Winter Weather

Here's an opinion for you. Winter sucks.

I've lived in northern climes all my life. In fact, I grew up somewhere considerably colder than where I live now.  In my younger years, I could stand outside in -20 without a coat and chat with friends. I started wearing sandals in April, even if there was still snow on the ground.

Now I'm old. Technically I'm middle-aged, but I feel old. When hanging around the dog park, I'm shivering and bundled in a coat, while other people wear sweaters. "Isn't it a beautiful day?" they ask, while I look at them like the grumpy old woman I've become.

It's not just the cold, it's the snow.  Snow removal here sucks, much like winter itself. The city, in its infinite bureaucratic wisdom, clears the one-way street just north of ours before they clean our two-way street.  Complete snow clearance after a major storm can take up to six days.

We just had a major storm, at least two feet of snow, lots of traffic snarl-ups, and the sidewalks are impassable. I get snow in my boots, I can't walk the dog, I feel boxed in, and I get even grumpier. I want to go where's there no snow and the temperature is at least 70.

"Florida," says the Spouse.  We're 20 years from retirement age (and 40 years from retirement), but he's dreaming of Boca. I don't mind Boca, but I hate southern Florida in general. The I-95 from Boca to Miami is the ugliest stretch of highway in America, nothing by jai alai parlours and graffitied warehouses.  A vacation-- great, no problem.  Buying a condo and becoming snowbirds, not so much.  Besides, we're still too young.

So I'm stuck in the cold and the snow. I don't ski. I don't skate. My kids play in the back yard with the dog, but that's the sum total of winter activities. The dog loves the snow. Today he dug up a dead frozen squirrel. Our middle child was traumatised. So was I. Spring can't come soon enough.