Sam and I have just had a great time hurtling down the driveway
on trikes before careering with style into the carport. He’s much braver on his ride-on trike than Bea ever was, and I can still hold my own on a tricycle much too
small for me. Brilliant fun.
It’s been a very blustery day in Auckland, so we were out in
the nor’easter laughing in the wind as I tend to do on blustery, squally days. This
is still a mild subtropical low pressure system, but it’s a blessed relief
to see the end of our uncharacteristically long and dry Auckland summer. It’s
just lovely to wear a jersey again.
I’m not against summer (much), but I’d always willingly
choose spring, autumn or winter, if I had the choice, and having lived in
Auckland most of my life, I do feel keenly the lack of real winters. Yet, despite
it being incredibly common for people to bitch their way through a hot summer—and
in my case, obsessively check the MetService 10 day forecast just in case they
unexpectedly discover a southerly front moving in, meaning that autumn will
arrive sharply—it’s not socially acceptable to actively dislike summer. It’s
comparable with not enjoying card games. You’re cast as a spoil-sport. Well,
guess what? I’m the biggest spoil-sport around.
So imagine what it’s like when you’re about to move to
Canada.
“Oh, you won’t be complaining about summer after your first
winter.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts!”
Or just the plain annoying: “Oh, it gets cold in Canada...”
Really? Really!?! I never knew. Somehow in my lifelong
fascinating with Canadian things and my bewitchment by northern climes, I never
realised that Canada might have cold winters. Never. Not once. Will I need a
hat?
Now I’m not moving to the Canadian arctic. I’m not even moving
to Edmonton or Montréal. It’s Toronto, which is relatively benign by Canadian
standards. Still significantly colder in winter than anything I’ve yet
experienced long term, but the idea of winter, “The Idea of North” (while we’re
on the subject of fascination with Canadian things), does not and has never
scared me.
I may well hate it. I may love it. But, more likely, I will
like and loathe different bits, and as with anyone who enjoys the changing of
the seasons (something we don’t really get in boring, mild old Auckland), I
will be longing for spring come Easter 2014. I just don’t see how looking to
spring is indicative of a hatred of winter.
I lived in Edinburgh for six years, and while Auld Reekie might
not get as cold as Toronto, it’s wetter and it certainly never gets as hot and
summery as Toronto. It is also on the same latitude as Moscow, so gets much, much
darker in winter. Effectively, it’s warm jacket and scarf weather most of the
year.
And I rather liked it. In fact, I felt it could have thrown
me some fiercer winter weather. Also, I didn’t have a car in Edinburgh, so
pretty much every day, come snow, sleet or rain, I walked. I’m sure that having
to get kids into snow pants every day and needing to drive on the QEW in foul
weather will irritate me more than having to put sunscreen on the little
blighters every day in summer, but it may irritate me less than going for walks
in the midday southern summer sun with lily-white children. Something always
ends up irritating me and you will likely hear all about it, but is Canada such
a non-entity in small talk subjects that the only thing you can do is tell me
that the winters will be hard?
If we must discuss the weather, let’s do it properly. Discuss
why, this year, autumn and spring have been late coming in the respective
hemispheres. Pontificate about global “weirding”. Actively engage with the
issue of climate change. Don’t spout culturally-conditioned platitudes about
how much I’ll hate the winter, especially if you’re from New Zealand and don’t really
understand how things work in a society built for cold weather.
I don’t know how I will respond to my first winter in
Toronto, but I’m very excited to find out. And I promise this time next year to
update you on my seasonal progress.
However, the first concern on my weather radar is a Canadian
summer. Don’t cold winters usually precede hot summers? This thought frightens
me. Toronto gets significantly hotter than Auckland, and even more humid. I
barely cope with Auckland.
In conclusion, here's a picture that makes me happy.
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© Sonja Nikkila (2005)
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P.S. A conversation suggestion for talking to a family
planning the biggest adventure of their lives: Oh, you’re moving to Canada?
That’s exciting. I hear the Son of Trudeau has just won the Liberal leadership.
Discuss.
