When you as a foreigner meet Canadians here it's inevitable that the Canadian winter is one of the most likely topics to talk about. And you know what's so funny? 10 people, 10 different pictures. For everyone snowfall starts at a different time and ends at a different time of the year. I was a bit puzzled in the beginning but I've come to think that it really depends on the memory of the respective person or what they want to stress - because the winter experience can vary vastly from year to year. When I arrived here everybody was telling me about the exceptionally mild winter they had. Now I fully understand. Yesterday in the news they mentioned that the same day last year they had 18 degrees PLUS; this year we have 17 degrees MINUS! A difference of 35 degrees, that's quite something.

About one and a half weeks ago we received a letter from the member of parliament who is representing our area - which I found quite amusing. He stressed that he is constantly flying back and forth between Ottawa and Edmonton and repeatedly used "we in Edmonton" to convey the idea that he is Edmontonian and working for us and not some aloof guy sitting somewhere in the capital. Yet, his letter started with a sentence like "Now, as the autumn leaves fall, and the cold season is slowly arriving in Edmonton.." - Well - we're having snow already since end of October, so I wonder, when you really had been here for the last time..

[Edit 27.11.2006, 10:26] The exact quote is: "As autumn leaves begin to fall and the change in season is upon us here in Edmonton"... (Rahim Jaffer, M.P. Your Voice in government. Fall Update)