Well, mostly.
Yes, I’m the one who ordered the snow and cold. My first order, for April, ended up in Halifax by mistake so I had to reorder. And you know how delivery estimates go — this was supposed to be here for my birthday but it got held up at the border. And they never sent the amount they were supposed to…you know how it is.
So, uh, yeah. I’m an idiot.
I find it annoying to zip up my parka. (I overheat really easily and having to keep unzipping/zipping it just bugs me.) So normally I wear a fleece jacket underneath the parka. Today, I was feeling really warm when I left for work and, since I’d planned on taking a cab to and from work, I decided not to wear the fleece jacket. Even as I made that choice, I knew it was a mistake but I pushed on anyway.
After work, there were no cabs at the taxi stand near my building, the taxi stand that always has cars at it. By the time I discovered that, I had three choices: walk back to the office and call a cab from there, stay outside and call a cab, or take the bus home. I decided on the bus. Unfortunately my gloves and scarf were buried under a lot of stuff in my backpack. The idea of standing in the cold and wind digging through everything to find them was not enticing. It’s only going to be a few minutes, says I. So what if it’s -19 Celsius, -32 with the wind chill.
The first five minutes I was actually quite comfortable. (I told you, I run hot.) Then the wind caught me and I started to feel the cold. (I’m sure the people at the bus stop thought I was insane — or ill — standing there with my coat open, v-neck shirt doing little to stop the wind.) Three bus rides, two very chilly transfers, and a loooong walk through the wind tunnel in front of my building, and here I am, with a wind burn* that I didn’t even know I had until I noticed that the tip of my nose really hurt. (Actually, it hurts and it itches
So, yeah. I learned today that standing or walking in -32 degree wind chill without proper clothing is a bad idea. (I know — bit late in life for me to be learning that lesson.) Researchers have apparently determined that below -27, the risk of frostbite increases exponentially — at -40C, it only takes 10 minutes exposure for you to get frostnipped, the precursor to frostbite.
* Did you know that there’s supposedly no such thing as a wind burn? According to many, it’s really just a sunburn, caused by the wind stripping the UV-protecting sweat and moisture from your skin. I think that’s BS. I’ve had sunburns and other heat or scalding burns before. A wind burn is different. It’s more of a friction burn, kind of like a carpet burn.
Life Begins at 41...or maybe 43 