Feels Like Hibernation

It snowed all day today. The nights are drawing in. There is no government in Canada, it has been prorogued. The Canadian stockmarket shut down due to a technical problem.

The streets were white and muffled with only occasional cars sliding tentatively along the white-top. Bundled up children, excused by the weather from school, pulled sleds and made snowmen in the park. The air has the sweet tang of burning cedar from home fires.

Walking along a quieter-than-usual Commercial Drive, shop assistants and waiters in brightly-lit, empty stores and restaurants looked bored but warm.

With the Winter Solstice only days away it's dark now at 4pm and it feels like we're in hibernation.