Melty Days

The weather has been positive every day for about a week now, although it still gets negative at night (which, I'm told, is the perfect condition for the maple trees to produce the stuff that gets turned into syrup). So huge great piles of white snow everywhere are gradually becoming slightly smaller, ugly, dirty brown piles of snow studded with garbage and surrounded by dirty lakes.
On the upside, the permafrost that makes the path to my front door treacherous has melted enough for a few holes down to the actual concrete to appear, allowing a firm foothold for at least some of the steps.
And the sun is stronger. So much stronger that I think I'm got slightly sunburnt this weekend. I didn't think that was supposed to happen on this side of the world, dammit. But sitting in the sun feel very nice. I've even ventured out without long johns on! And my down coat is definitely too warm now, but my hoodie alone isn't quite warm enough most of the time. So one of my missions for this week is to find a spring jacket of some sort. I can feel a thrift store shopping expedition coming on! Maybe I'll get those rollerblades as well...
Oh, and I went to Ottawaaaa for the weekend (that's how they say it here) but I'll blog about it another day.

Diary of a too-late Ice Skater, Part 4

So it seems the skating season is over. I was down at Parc La Fontaine yesterday, and the pond is now just slush. Temperatures are predicted to be over zero all week this week, so I think that's it for the skating. I'm really glad I got to go one last time on Monday.
But now that the sidewalks are mostly free of snow and ice, maybe I'll buy some rollerblades (which are also plentiful in thrift stores) and continue to develop my skills. It would probably save me buying a bike as well.
Of course, I've never rollerbladed in my life. So I bet I'm a pretty-crap rollerblader. But I managed to not kill myself on the ice, so I'm sure I can learn to survive on the streets as well!

Meanwhile, here's a pic I took at the ex-ice skating pond yesterday. Isn't this the funkiest dancing hockey playing stick figure you've ever seen? As far as I can tell, this sign means 'don't dance with your hockey stick here'.

I *heart* Thrift Stores

Guess what I bought today! Ice skates! Now there is something I never thought I'd ever own in my life. But the rinks (ponds in parks) are free here, and the dirt-cheap thrift store skates I bought, plus sharpening (who knew skates needed sharpening?) cost about the same as two skate hires. And as there is a rink (a real rink! with a wall to clutch on to!) about 300m from this house, I think I should manage to go more than once...
I was also in the Salvo's shop to hunt for a coat, as my $5 one from the last Salvation Army store I went to (in Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan) has served me well, but it's not really suited to the depths of winter. And I think it makes me look like a homeless person. So I tried on about half the coats on the rack, and found a beautiful green one that would have been perfect if it were about 2 cm bigger around the middle. Once I'd ruled out every coat on all the racks, and given up, I spent another hour in the shop trying on skates and boots and hats and looking at the books and generally poking around. And then on my way back to the register, I had one last look, thinking I might have missed something. And I found this:I can't imagine I missed a yellow coat, so I can only assume that it was put on the shelves after my first look. Now, yes, it is oh-so-very yellow. And this caused some hesitation on my part. Not least cos I'm going to have to make an effort to keep it clean. But it's made of down and wonderfully soft micro-fibre type fabric, so it feels great. And it doesn't leave down on everything like my other down jacket. And it has an excellent hood. And in general, should get me through the worst of winter!

I also bought a pair of winter boots - slightly too large and rather ugly, but the brand is 'Dry Ice', which sounds promising. My wonderful Bulgarian Boots are good, and will probably do most of the time, especially now that I've dubbined them again and added some thermal innersoles that resemble car windshield shades. But the new ones should be better when I want to walk or stand about in the snow for any length of time on those -20 days. Clear days like this, which are the coldest: I also upgraded my 'toque' while I was there. My $2 black beanie that I bought in NYC a while back is fine, but nowhere near warm enough (although when I think about it, now that I have the hooded coat it will probably do! Ah well). But I got this, which should help:And finally, I bought a crappy backpack that will help me move to my new sublet on Sunday. The idea is that I use it in place of my old backpack (the landing module of my mother-ship pack) and thus prevent the latter from getting even older and crappier than it already is.

And all of these purchases I got for the princely sum of $35. Which was mostly due to the fact that I got talking to the lady, and she was really nice to me, and she's the one who decided the prices! And she may have not noticed the backpack... But anyway. Just another reason why I *heart* thrift stores!