Wish you were here? Yes!!!

with grateful thanks to the "Flying Shingle" for the seasonal pictures

Winter has arrived on Gabriola, just as folk are rushing round preparing for the Christmas festivities.

For some, the arrival of the first snowfall is a welcome treat - and for others it's a pain in the butt (sometimes literally) and they content themselves to watching the white stuff from behind firmly closed doors, waiting for it all to go away!

Granted, the decision to move to Gabriola was taken in the belief that the Gulf Islands climate would be kinder on our ageing bones than the winter excesses of the prairies, but sitting here in England - looking out of the window at the grey, damp weather - it is good to know that we can expect some "proper" snow when we do move to our new home.

I'm also pleased to see that humour is not lost on the island - and that there must be others out there who, like me, think that shops that fill with Christmas "cheer" around the second week of November are maybe milking the festive season a tad too hard and driving the sceptics among us to switch off until we're forced, kicking and screaming, to admit that maybe others do find Christmas a magical time, or a time for song and praise.

Meanwhile, if some of us want to be HummBugs, then it's clear we'll have to choose our shops carefully, to avoid the stares of yet another crowd of campaigning islanders!

It's been a few years now since we had to dress our kids for school, so it's comforting to know that the Weather Network now provides a schoolday forecast to help hapless parents dress their kids appropriately for the trip to the car (sorry, did I mean school?). How did we oldies survive without this essential service?

Today's advice for parents heading with their kids to Gabriola Elementary offers a prescriptive menu of outer clothing to keep the little souls warm and dry. It's great to see that Mum's only got to prepare one set of clothes today; too often we're presented with the dilemma of a whole different set of clothes needed to bring the kids home in as the weather changes before 3pm. Should you keep a spare set of everything at school? Must you carry a whole new set of clothes back to school this afternoon to comply?? Does this mean you have to take the car??? That's really great for the environment!

At least it's good to know that the sidewalks will be dry. Uhhh - what sidewalks? Does this mean the snow's melted and gone already? Or will Gabriolans be taken by surprise this morning with conditions that only the Weather Network could devise - "wet puddles". Call me ignorant, but where I come from there is no other sort!