Tuesday 5 January 2010

Rambling about English winters

English temperature has been pretty cold recently and will stay cold for a while. We didn't have snow until the evening. As I am writing these lines it is changing dramatically, with snow falling from the sky like in my homeland. The school I am working for will most likely close tomorrow and pretty much everything in Québec. This made me wonder about the way they deal with winter here.

I am feeling pretty good when it snows here. The temperature gets slightly warmer and I have the right kind of boots to walk without much problems. Unlike the locals, who cannot deal with snow. Everything is on a standstill when it snows even just a few centimeters. They don't have the right equipment to shuffle it, the cars don't have winter tires, it's like a white Apocalypse Now for the English people. I think it will change for future years, as winter seems every year to be getting more like...well, winter.

So I have no problem with snow and I am sometimes smug about it. It is when it gets slightly below zero that I have issues with English winter and stop being smug. I often find it barely more bearable than our minus 30 we get in Québec. Inside, the houses are often badly insulated, I often feel cold. Except in this flat, because the attic gathers the heat for the rest of the building. Almost everywhere else, I often end up freezing. Outside, it's worse, especially in the morning and at nighttime. I find the cold air unbearable here. My Timberland coat does not cover me enough and the coat I bought in Liverpool is good, but not below zero. I miss my winter coat which is hanging in our Montreal flat. I will probably bring it back here one day. One cannot behave like a man of the North without the proper clothes.

12 comments:

PJ said...

Moi, il faut que je m'achète de nouvelles bottes. C'est fort chiant dans la sloche de prendre l'eau.

Anonymous said...

Lol!

The English are coping perfectly well with the snow here! You want people to fit winter tyres for 5 days of the year? What sense is there in buying snow shovels to use once in 2 or 3 years? Should we also build underground shelters in case we have tornadoes? How about earthquakes and tsunamis?

You may care to be more pleasant about your host country in future as I am sure you will not find many people prepared to accommodate your inflammatory views.

Guillaume said...

Hmmm...Inflammatory views? You get easily offended. And courageous enough to comment anonymously. Those were mere observations, written as an outsider. You don't like it, fine, you don't have to read my blog or comment on it. In any case, I would appreciate if you don't build a straw man, I did NOT write this post as a condescending piece. And it's not like Brits don't complain about the weather either. Maybe I am starting to think like one myself.

Leigh Russell said...

I'm just hoping my school will be closed tomorrow so I can do some more writing.
I've posted the cover of my next book over on my blog if you'd like to comment.
I didn't find your comments inflammatory, because you're right. We're never prepared for any extreme weather here. We burn in the summer and are frozen to a standstill in the winter. It happens every year. I think you were generous in your optimistic view that we might change. We won't.

Guillaume said...

@Leigh-Thank you for the kind comment, you brightened up a snowy day. I hope you are enjoying your time writing at home. I have seen the cover and just commented on it.
About the post itself, as weather seems to be getting more extreme every year, I think the adaptation will come eventually and naturally. As for the above comment, I am amazed that something I write quickly to give observations that are partial (because personal) and not meant to be read as anything more than that can be read as an attack on England. For the foreigner coming from a wintery country, I think the way such weather is dealt with here will always look somewhat strange. But to be fair, Montreal often copes badly with snow, but this is due to incompetent planning and endemic corruption (which would give enough material for a series of crime books). Anyway, for the record, I consider school teachers who write violent crime thrillers to be a proud British tradition. Just in case somebody wanted to deport me...

Anonymous said...

Many posts you write are hostile to the British, especially about the weather and often those written in French. Your choice of the words "English people" whilst announcing your smugness is what makes it condescending. How can you validate comments like yours for an entire nation of people?

I am not anonymous, you do know me.

Guillaume said...

@"Anonymous"-Well, I figured out that I know you. I am wondering what are those "many posts" where I am hostile to the British. Especially those in French, because I honestly doubt you know the language well enough to understand much, if anything of them. Google translation can only help you so much. Those about the weather might show that I don't like British weather, but then again neither do many Englishmen. That said, Quebeckers also dislike their weather and I did mention it (you probably missed those posts). And by the way, I generally speak about Quebeckers in my posts in French, often in very critical terms (missed those too?). I guess I am hostile to them too. And the comment about smugness was ironic and self-depreciative, I thought that was obvious.

Oh, and that's it, I am done justifying myself. This is a post, not a defamation of character of Englishness, or a political manifesto on road service, or whatever you think it is. Don't feel obliged to comment on, or read, this blog.

Anonymous said...

Lol!

PJ said...

Maudit que je suis content que mon blogue soit assez abandonné et impopulaire pour ne jamais avoir de troll.
Mon Dieu Guillaume, tu dois haïr l'Angleterre et les Anglais, tu y vis et tu en a marié une. Il faut dire que c'était vrai jusqu'à récemment pour ton beau-père aussi.

Guillaume said...

@PJ-Si tu savais qui est le troll... Je suis à deux doigts de mettre un filtre sur le blogue. Le pire, c'est que j'ai écrit des billets controversés par le passé (dont un qui m'a valu l'attention d'un troll québécois), mais aucun qui ait amené pareille réaction (sur un hostie de billet sur la température!). J'écris aussi des commentaires sur des blogues qui attirent les fondamentalistes et les trolls, mais aucun jusqu'ici n'est venu me relancer sur le mien. Bon, paraît que j'écris des propos incendiaires sur une bordée de neige. Il y en a qui ont l'immolation facile.

Anonymous said...

Je ne suis pas le ou la même 'Anonymous' que plus haut mais voilà, ce fut peut-être ton billet le plus commenté.
Ma question pour vous, est-ce que vous recommander les manteaux Kanuk pour garder bien au chaud?

Guillaume said...

@Anonymous2-Au Québec je porte du Kanuk et je n'ai jamais eu à m'en plaindre, sauf peut-être au niveau du cou que le Coyote couvre assez peu. Certains de mes amis trouvent Kanuk trop "tendance", moi j'aime bien. Il y a aussi Chlorophylle, son compétiteur (saguenéen), qui offre de très bons produits.