Aversion to all things winter a result of past experiences

While some people have the winter blahs, my affliction is much worse. In short – I hate winter. In fact, I hate everything to do with winter, except that it is an excellent excuse to travel down south.

Which is another reason why I am in such a bad mood. I used up all but 12,000 of my Aeroplan points on my last trip and now I don’t even have enough to fly to Toronto.

Well actually, I have enough to buy a oneway ticket to Toronto. I guess I could always take the train back, but going into Toronto would only worsen my mood. I’m only slightly a bigger fan of Toronto than winter. But winter in Toronto? Yikes! Not on your life.

Getting back to my aversion to winter. I’m pretty sure it has its genesis in my earliest days living in Ottawa. I moved here with my family in 1973 when I was 12 years old.

We actually arrived in August, which is a perfect time to arrive in Ottawa. Two of the newest employees at Caravela restaurant, Yonelle and Latifa, came here from the Barbados in November.

You would think that by now they would be completely traumatized even if we are having one of the mildest winters in recent memory. But for some crazy reason they are still thrilled by the novelty of it all.