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I think! It certainly isn’t north of my home but it is the first star to appear. It certainly wasn’t anywhere to be seen tonight as the day was mostly like this

it’s still snowing. Snow can be beautiful, white and silent it covers a lot of ugliness. It’s romanticized by people who never have to shovel it. It covers dirt and bare branches. It muffles the sound of traffic. It looks lovely from behind à wide window when you’re curled up with a soft blanket and a fascinating book.

But… at this stage in my life – I’m done! For the past two weeks I have not set foot outdoors without a hiking pole. I have walked hundreds of kilometers on hikes and Caminos and now I toddle along with spikes on the soles of my boots and a glorified cane, terrified of falling. I have a subscription to à gym. How ridiculous it would be to fall on an icy sidewalk and break à bone as I make my way to exercise class!

Enough! Over the past 24 hours, confined to my warm and comfortable apartment, I have drunk two pots of coffee and eaten an embarrassing number of tangerines while struggling with a short story that wants to become a novel.

I know how lucky I am. Sixty thousand households in and around Montreal had no electricity for many hours over the past weekend.

A woman in her sixties was found dead of hypothermia this afternoon. No electricity means no heat for many of us here.

Again, I know I’m lucky. Because I worked almost all of my adult life, I have a decent pension. My family responsibilities are not onerous and so, I can do something about my newly developed anathema to months of cold and snow. Soon enough this book will be dog-eared. My preoccupation will be avoiding not falls, but blisters.

and I’m counting the days , not the months.

Dear reader, excuse the rant but remember me and call me to account next year. No more long snowy winters for me!