The Globe and Mail Douglas Cornish Published January 10, 2021 Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
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Illustration by Rachel Wada
We are winter people, ice people, nice people. There is only one dominant season for Canadians, the one that defines us (whether we like it or not). Cold. Clear, icicle cold. The season that extinguishes all others. The one season that enters Canadian conversations all year long (even in 40 C weather). Only a Canadian would talk about winter on a scorching hot, humid summer’s day. It snows in a Canadian’s mind all year long, little white flurries of brain activity. Winter is not simply a season, it’s a state of mind. A state of being. A frozen Canadian, suspended in disbelief for a period of anywhere up to six (or is that sick?) months