the first and last snow

This was the first and only snow I saw this winter and when I look outside my window, it’s hard to believe snow even exists at all and that it is still several inches deep in certain parts of the world. Here, in London, it continues to rain and I’m thinking perhaps the UK should just give up and rename its seasons “the rainy season” and “the less rainy season”. Because, hey, will you look at that, the sky is spitting on us again.

So yeah. The weather. Also, I joined a Canadian expat group last month. We sit at the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden and eat chicken wings and drink Canadian beer and talk about hockey and why we are here (as in, London, not the Universe – it’s beer and chicken wing night, not “drop acid and get existential” night). No, we talk about the simple stuff, like how weird the Brits are and how poutine should never, ever be made with grated cheese (the cheese must squeak between your teeth when you bite into it and that is a fact). We talk about how it takes 3 days to cross Ontario and then someone mentions they come from Belleville and the guy from Ottawa replies “Ah ya! I know Belleville, my car broke down there once” and this is music to my ears. A strange comfort. A land I know.

Canada is a big place and not all Canadians are the same but here, we are fish out of water, and because of this we connect, even if only for a couple hours. We have a few beers, we watch a game, we go home and we come back every month to water our roots before we start to wither.

And on that note, I’m off to spend the weekend studying for my Life in the UK test.

I know. The good times never end around here.

Happy weekend, kids. xo