I prefer Real Cold with snow that squeaks under your boots, or a nice dry warm Mediterranean/Californian climate. I strongly dislike wet cold-but-not-freezing slushy crappy conditions.
Unfortunately, what with global warming and all, Toronto has less and less Real Cold, and more and more of the crap. Eventually our entire winter will be pissy cold rain a smidgen above zero. I guess I’ll eventually have to move… either north or south. Montreal, Ottawa, Finland or… Australia, the South of France, Slovenia…
It’s not the cold. I don’t get cold. But there’s more to winter than just that.
Ice all over the goddam place, that’s what I hate.
Scraping it off the car. Sliding through stop signs. Mincing along on it when walking to work. Chipping it off the sidewalk so the mailman doesn’t fall and sue us.
And don’t talk to me about car covers, sand and salt and YakTraks. Either way it’s a pain in the ass. (Especially when you fall)
I’m a native New Englander, and I hate winter. Oh, lord, how I do hate winter! The primary reason is because I start to feel chilly around 75 degrees and it just gets worse from there. I actually have an allergy to cold - if it gets too cold (somewhere between 50 and 60) and my skin is exposed to it for any amount of time (either directly or through thin clothing) I get itchy hives. It’s miserable.
I hate snow and ice, too - they always seem to be trying to kill me (or at least make me fall down and break something). I have no interest in any winter outdoor activities. The gray skies, short days, and lack of leaves on trees all suck, too.
Oddly enough, one of the things I hate about winter is being too hot. Winter forces me to wear clothes that often make me uncomfortably hot indoors, which is where I spend most of my time. I gave up wearing long sleeve shirts in the winter a couple years ago because they’re just unbearable indoors. The heat is often turned up too high indoors in the winter, and the dry air causes my nose to bleed and my skin to dry out and feel nasty. If I have to be outdoors for any length of time I’ll wear a good coat, a hat, gloves, and thermal underwear if it’s really cold. No matter what I wear, though, it usually makes parts of me much too hot and leaves other parts much too cold. And I hate having to wear a coat and take it off indoors, find some place to put it, put it back on, etc. It’s just a huge hassle to me and compounds an already miserable time of year.
I lived in Florida for a while, but winter still sucked (although not nearly as much). The days were still way too short and the temperature still got plenty cold enough to be uncomfortable. But all things considered, it was still infinitely nicer than New Freakin’ England. The weather I like lasts almost all year instead of 2-3 months. I may be moving back there soon. I know I’ll never settle permanently in New England, that’s for sure.
icicles in nostrils and redness on noses…
no parking spaces (Chicago) and frozen-solid hoses…
falling down on my ass whicle crossing the street, taking 26 minutes to thaw out my feet…
I live in Winnipeg and I am just not suited to this climate. That said, I can appreciate winter until about, oh, say mid January. The I would like it to end. It never does. I know that if I dress right I am not cold, but then I am puffy and it’s hard to move, with the exception of my feet, they freeze in mid-November and finally thaw out sometime around June.
Thsi doesn’t mean I love the heat, au contraire, I love Spring and Fall (except the damn wasps) the best.
Given a choice I’d take extreme cold over extreme heat. At least when it’s cold and you aren’t in a heated environment you can bundle up and protect yourself. When it’s too hot if there’s no air conditioning (such as my own home) you’re SOL. I can tolerate colder temperatures and I don’t have to dress as heavily as most people. In the summer, however, I sweat profusely and I have had a few minor instances of heat exhaustion. I’m very shy about exposing my hairy body so I don’t wear shorts and I won’t go around shirtless no matter what the temperature is, so I don’t ever go to swimming pools or water parks to cool off. I’d rather suffer from the heat, which at least is faceless and impersonal, over the embarrassment of other people having to see my gorilla-esque physique. Summer sucks in my opinion, which is why I welcome the arrival of fall and winter. As for sunlight? I’d rather stay indoors or at least in the shade than be out in the hot, blistering, burning sun. I like to go out on gray, cloudy days, and today is looking to be one of those days.
Give me the heat, baby!
Give me ladies in soft, summer dresses with warm sunshine in their hair.
Give me ice cream bought from the Good Humor man.
Give me long days by the ocean watching the waves, sipping cold beer, reading a stupid, trashy novel, and watching people walk by in little or no clothing.
Give me green grass, blue skies.
Give me thunderstorms.
Give me daylight until 9:00 pm
Give me the smell of fresh cut grass.
Did I mention the women in soft, summer dresses with the sunshine in their hair?
You can keep the cold.
You can keep the snow.
You can keep skiing.
You can keep layer after layer of clothing.
You can keep slush.
You can keep scraping the ice off my truck.
You can keep the dry heat produced by the furnace, heat pump.or wood stove.
You can keep sunset at 5:00 pm.
Like I said - give me the heat. Put me naked on a flat rock in the middle of the river. Give me the heat.
I loathe the cold- I liked it as a kid, but developed arthritis in my hips and spine at a young age and have been miserable since. I am, happily, moving south to NC, where I can drive up to the mountains and VISIT snow when I want to. I hate living in it. I’ve been living in it for 32 years too long, IMHO.
I was born, raised, and currently live in Los Angeles. I freely admit that I am spoiled as far as the weather goes.
I hate the cold weather. Absolutely hate it. So much so that I have no problems living in a 100+ degree desert enviroments , such as Las Vegas. My ideal climate would be very hot and dry.
Sure, I can appreciate the snow, and in fact I would like to go the mountains sometime this winter to go play in the snow. But that’s about it. I truly believe I will shrivel up and die if I had to live through one Minnesota winter. Even now, I think that it’s getting kinda chilly here in LA (yesterday’s low was 52).
I only hate winter when I’m outside freezing my ass off in it. If I’m inside, with a cozy cup of hot chocolate and some nice lit candles and a good movie on tv, I love winter.
Unfortunately, I start delivering papers at about 3 a.m. Which means that come 2:45, I’m out there scraping ice off my windshield. Which is when I HATE winter the most.
Also–this never fails–anytime we have an ice storm and it’s after 9 p.m. and I’m in pjs and have a very rare day off the next morning, one of the boys cuts himself with a pocketknife and has to go the the ED for stitches. I finally started charging them $100 if I have to take them to the emergency room.
I love winter. I grew up in the south (Georgia & Texas), and moved to Utah in my early 20’s. It was so nice to have the opportunity to be cold, enjoy snow and cold weather sports, etc.
Mr. C4C and I moved back to Texas about 9 years ago, and we’re looking forward to our next move (Ames, Iowa) in about 2 years.
Absolutely. All scientific evidence indicates that human beings evolved in tropical Africa. Here’s a quote from Africa by John Reader, which refers to a study done by someone named Pete Wheeler:
No matter how much I dress for it, as soon as I step outside, I get the shivers and shakes. My teeth chatter and I’m generally miserable for a good long while. Also, like pestie, I’m allergic to the cold (although apparently in a more mild fashion). If I get cold, I get hives, my hands (and sometimes feet) swell up, and they burn and itch like a mofo. I usually don’t start breaking out until about 45 degrees or so. So far, however, I’ve had great luck with Zyrtec–you might wanna check that out, pestie.
Also, I hate the lack of sunlight. I mean, I love night, don’t get me wrong, but winter night isn’t the same as summer night. For one, there’s usually either an overcast sky or snow on the ground, so it doesn’t get truly dark. For another, it’s usually too frickin’ cold to stay outside at night for very long. Yeah, I’ll agree with you guys–clear cold skies and unbroken, pristine snow are beautiful. But a crapload of dark hours and soggy boots are no fun. I have mild SAD, I think, as my downswings are deeper and more frequent during late fall/winter–so, not only is the dreariness physically uncomfortable; it’s also psychologically sucky.
Based on my heritage, I could’ve had either French-Canadian or Greek resistance to the cold. Guess which one I got.
Heat sucks. I don’t like it when its over 75. 20 with tons of ice and snow is great, as long as the water heater and furnace are working, wich they aren’t.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love hockey, and am glad I have finally had a chance to play it in it’s natural climes. I also like cold beer. The two are not unrelated. . .
However, when it turns cold outside, and the ground freezes as it does every 15 October up here in Minot, all work ceases. I can’t get any friggin’ work done outside. Stuff that we could be doing elsewhere where the weather doesn’t go cold until mid-November or later has to be held up for “winter exclusion”.
Hell, when my old car couldn’t be driven above 57 MPH on some days because the wind chill on the engine block stalled it out all the time, it was just too cold. Will I ever like the winter? Maybe. The cold? Only if Hell freezes over.
Sorry folks. I spent 7 years in Hawaii only to realize that I don’t particularly like summer or do well in it. I love autumn, and missed it dearly, and there’s a wonderful crispness to a perfect winter day. Then again, I’m not in the extreme north.
On a more practical note, if it gets colder, I can always put more clothes on. If it gets hotter, there’s a limit to how much I can take off and still go out in public. Sorry, guys!
I would do very well in a place that has sub freezing temps year round and be sucidial in a place that has 80F+ (70+ w/o a/c) year round.
I normally keep my thermostat set at 60-64 during the day and am in shorts during the winter. In the summer I set the a/c at 74 and just bearly get by and still be able to afford the electric bill (sometimes sneeking it down to 72 but no matter how careful I am at sneeking it down the power company always catches me).
I am not that found of the beach and would much rather just have a wooden pier with a ladder to get in and out of the water (well out anyway) and avoid the whole sand thing.
Also one big plus that the winter has is no insects - that rocks. I can go hiking (well showshoeing) and not have to worry about bugs or bugspray getting into my food - water is everywhere and doesn’t have to be filtered (but it needs to be melted). Just keep sipping so your camelbak tube doesn’t freeze and you’ll be just fine. AHHHHH I love the winter.
I think pestie might be a long lost sibling. I hate winter. Really, really hate it. Blend hatred of cold, hatred of being wet, brand new anxiety attacks while driving in poor weather (love those things that hold off until your 20s to clobber you), very sensitive skin that cracks and bleeds (though vastiline came out with a product that almost keeps my hands from bleeding at all) and mild to moderate depression during low-sun months, and I come out hating winter all together. There are three good things about winter:
Christmas
UNH Hockey
Snow men/snow ball fights that you know you’re participating in
And that’s it!
On the hating-winter-because-of-getting-too-hot topic, does anyone else wake up in the middle of the night and throw up because they are developing heat exhustion- in the middle of the winter?? I have to side with the people who think you should set your themostat to 60-5 at night because you’re bundled up, since it only happens when someone decides that the house would be more comfortable if they cranked the heat up to 70-75 in the middle of the night. At least in the summer I’m not covered in blankets to ward the chill when the heat shoots up, or just stays up.
