The Perfect Gentleman Issue 9 - Christmas | Page 43

Baby It's Cold Outside How to Dress for the Winter by Leah Morrigan I consider myself an expert in cold weather dressing because I spent more than half of my life in one of the coldest inhabited places on earth: Saskatchewan, a dry, constantly windy and dead flat province in the centre of the Canadian prairies. The coldest temperature I can remember was a December evening when I had to go to the university to write a final exam. Before dressing to go to school, and before the Internet was in widespread use, I called Environment Canada to find out what the weather was like. In Saskatchewan (sas-KA-chew-un), the winters are so bitterly cold that people plug their cars in overnight so the battery works in the morning. Under the right conditions, skin can freeze in seconds and ice forms in your nostrils. It’s the kind of dry cold that stings. But no matter what the weather, nothing stops in Saskatchewan; on the prairies, people suck it up, pack on the layers, and continue with their routine. It’s really no wonder that Socialism was born in Saskatchewan, the place where people rely on a strong community for survival