February 2002

The all-too-appropriate title for my monthly ramblings, I fear, especially in the rainy season here in Victoria, BC.

Yes, I said rainy season. It would be inappropriate to label it 'winter', since winter implies one thing, and one thing only, to the bulk of Canada.

Snow.

(At this point, anyone who even thought of the song "Informer" is politely asked to go perform some Google searches in Elmer Fudd dialect.)

(Ha! I got you thinking about that song now!)

(I'll bet it's going to run through your head for DAYS, too.)

But really, I miss my snow. Snow is such a jubilant, refreshing sign that the winter is truly here. I like to walk in the snow. The ground seems so new. I like to make snowballs and throw them at my sisters (which I'm also missing out on, due to proximity considerations). I like to make snowmen, although I'm not nearly as talented that way as, say, Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. I love the crispness of the air on a cold, snowy day, and especially when it gets so cold that ice clings to whatever facial hair of which I may be in current possession. I love to hear the crackle of ice on the hydro lines, although when it crackles so hard that the lines snap, that's not so good. But oh well. Take the bad with the good, eh?

I mean, even great literature recognizes the value of snow. Take, for instance, that great poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Are there lines anywhere that rival the power of:
"Že snawe snitered ful snart, žat snayped že wylde;
Že werbelande wynde wapped fro že hye,
And drof vche dale ful of dryftes ful grete."
I don't know about you, but any time I hear about snow snitering full snart, it warms my heart. And the image of the dales drifting in... well, that's just a beautiful thing.

Somehow, I have to convince the people out here that snow is actually a good thing, but they don't seem easily convinced. Given that roughly half the people in Victoria seem to have come from Saskatchewan, you'd think that they'd like snow.

Or maybe that's why they moved to Victoria.

At any rate, it's just WRONG to have flowers blooming in the first week of February. This is Canada, for crying out loud.

Snow.
We need more snow.