A Spring In My Step

Spring officially began on March 20th, so I can proudly say that I've made it through my first Canadian winter!

All things considered, we've had it pretty easy. Neither of us has had to commute to work by public transport, which has frequent delays during poor weather. Without a car, we haven't had to drive in dangerous snow and ice conditions, or buy snow tires, or chip ice off the windshield every morning. Plus we live in an apartment building, so we didn't have to shovel our driveway after each snowfall (although we did shovel a friend's driveway once for fun).

It was a bit of a hassle to dress for winter weather though, as my helpful diagram below illustrates. This rather stunning photo of me catching falling snowflakes shows the necessary amount of clothing required on our trip to Ottawa in February (-18 degrees celsius). Hence I've really been looking forward to the first day that I can walk outside in just a t-shirt and jeans. I thought it would be a little bit warmer by now, but I guess my Australian concept of 'spring' (20 degrees on a cold day) doesn't really apply here. I recently completed the Yonge st 10km run on a chilly morning at 0 degrees celsius. I managed to finish in a PB of 56:48, so I guess the cold improves my speed!

Now that it's finally warming up you can definitely notice a change in people's mood. I'd heard about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) before, but I didn't realise how common it was in Canada. My boss referred to it as the 'February Blahs', which is fairly accurate. Towards the end of winter many people go on vacation to Jamaica, Costa Rica or Cuba to escape the cold and return with a jealousy-inducing tan. So you can imagine the strange looks I got when I told people we were taking a trip to freezing cold Whitehorse in the dead of winter.

Fortunately, this week is shaping up to be quite lovely and sunny with a high of 19 degrees today. It's almost warm enough for terrasse (outdoor patio dining) season to begin!

Shoveling my first (and hopefully last) driveway

My winter wardrobe

Yonge street 10km run

Spring blooms in snow