The Light is The First to Go

The light is the first to go. Before you know it, it’s starting to get dark at 6:30pm, then 6pm, then 5:30pm, then 5:00pm, then (gasp) 4:30pm.

Next the evenings start getting a little cooler, perhaps pleasantly so, but it’s hard to enjoy them when you know what’s coming. Before you know it, it’s pretty darn cold, even when you’re bundled up. The temperature nosedives, then soars, then nosedrives. You never know what’s coming next, no matter how deeply you study your multiple weather apps.

Snow isn’t so bad. It’s the freezing rain that will get you next. Or rain that becomes frozen during one of the aforementioned nosedives. Then things start to get serious. Time to put on the Yaxtrax grippers every time you leave the house. Of course nothing really works on glare ice, so it’s usually a nerve-wracking journey at this point.

Snow comes and goes. The terrain varies. Enormous snow banks, narrow icy footpaths that used to be called sidewalks, lagoons of slushy water, and acres of sand and salt become your new reality.

Gradually you forget what it was like to walk in the light after 5pm on solid surfaces in weather that didn’t require armature. Eventually you are grateful if you are able to walk upright and/or it is warmer than 5 degrees.