I have to hide indoors on the really cold days because my lungs just don't function right -- asthma. But when the mercury's above minus 10 and the sun is shining, or even if the sun isn't shining but the wind is comparatively low, I like to get out and toddle about, just enjoying a little mobility. No camping or such heroics for me; I'm satisfied if I can walk to the office. I look quite eccentric with my spike-tipped walking stick and my Polartec hat, but I consider myself ahead of the game if I'm vertical and moving.

Remind me -- what did we do before Polartec?

The Ottawa winter is fairly brutal, as it is both very cold and somewhat damp. We have heavy snowstorms that the city crews may or may not be able to clear up after, and "temperature troughs" when the thermometer dives to below minus 20 for a week or two or even three. Then we get a thaw -- and I can go out again, feeling like a prisoner out on parole. An imminent snowstorm is announced by aching bones responding to the drop in air pressure, and the smell of paper mill borne on the northeast wind from Thurso, Quebec.

The only wild critters I see at this time of year are squirrels, crows, Military Police, and the occasional street person hunkered under a sleeping bag in the By Ward Market, but that's downtown living for ya.