Monday, January 21, 2008

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's a crisp 16°F at 12:00 noon; this is my kind of weather!

Without a doubt, winter is my favorite season. Perhaps it's an adaptation to having lived most of my life in the frozen north, but I feel more alive in the frozen depths of January and February. The air is cleaner, the sweltering misery of summer is a distant memory and there are fewer A-holes roaming the streets.

Now that I live in the suburbs, this isn't really a consideration, but when I lived in the city (read: the ghetto) a blanket of snow could transform even the most dangerous of crack-infested neighborhoods into a picturesque winter wonderland. Now that I mention it, I'm sure that having grown up in a crime-ridden post-industrial shit-hole has a lot to do with my love of winter, and my giddiness at the thought of sub-zero temperatures.

Summers in the inner-city were horrific. For reasons I don't fully understand, it's always hotter in the city than in the surrounding areas. If I had to guess, I'd say that it has something to do with all of that pavement and concrete absorbing sunlight all day, and then radiating it throughout the night, so that even in the wee hours of the morning, it's hot as hell. The heat is bad enough in and of itself--I really hate hot weather, for instance, I'd never willingly travel to the Caribbean. However, as a function of the oppressive heat of summertime, people in the ghetto go nuts. Summer is the time to show one's ass. People driving around blasting their car stereos loudly enough to wake people in their homes are a nightly occurrence. Then, there are the fights, robberies, shootings and crack-heads roaming the streets with shopping carts full of stolen swag. And, did I mention the bees? I hate bees. The point of this digression is that in the winter, all of these disruptive elements disappear. I have never known where they went, but cold weather never failed to send them scurrying off to wherever. I'm sure that as a conditioned response, this encouraged my deep and abiding love of ice and snow.

1 comment:

helpmate hubby said...

I actually love winter myself. Anyway, just saw your profile and wanted to say hi and that i hope you keep it going. We have many of the same interestes and if you want an invite to my blog send me an email at:

helpmatehubby@yahoo.com