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Canadian: Walking to Tim Horton's Through a Blizzard

Posted on: 2007-12-16

As anybody who lives in the Toronto area or the northern midwestern USA, there's a big snowstorm blowing through. This morning I did my Canadian duty and went out for a walk in the blizzard. To add to the Canadian experience, I of course went for a coffee at Tim Horton's.

Winter in Toronto tends toward the damp and rainy, which I always find more depressing than a good honest snowfall. I grew up in Ottawa, where this kind of thing is relatively normal, and I miss it. I especially missed it in California.

Simply going up the street for a coffee gives one such a feeling of accomplishment. Also, one feels especially warm and dry when looking out of a window at the white stuff.

That said, I'm glad I don't have to be anywhere in particular today, and especially glad that I don't need the car.

The news has been freaking out about this storm and building it up for several days. Uh, folks, this is Canada. This is what happens here. Perhaps the single uniting experience for this whole country in its entire history is that we're the people who survive this kind of weather. Even B.C. has been getting snow this year.

As usual, Rick Mercer has a great rant about this:

This is Canada. We have winter. Life sucks. Get a toque and embrace it!
I walked around a bit after getting my coffee. Thunder sounds especially ominous when muffled by snow: it doesn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular and there's no lightning beforehand - it just echoes all around like the Voice of Doom.

I walked home via Philosopher's Walk and passed the new ROM crystal. I noticed that the sloping roofline and the ridges have created a number of large icicles dangling dangerously dozens of feet above the sidewalk, ready to impale some hapless tourist. Good to see that even multimillion dollar buildings designed by world-famous architects have bugs and unforeseen design issues.

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