Andy Chase

Route 10 Swanzey, New Hampshire

(Demolished in 2009)

As a relatively recent resident of Southern California, I have been repeatedly asked "Bet you're having second thoughts about leaving California, eh?"

Not really.After a startingly mild December, with temperatures in the 40s and even 50s for much of the month, the weather has gotten rather cold over the last couple of days... highs of 20 degrees during the day, single digits overnight, and who knows how cold with the wind chill.

As a relatively recent resident of Southern California, I have been repeatedly asked "Bet you're having second thoughts about leaving California, eh?"

On the Porch

There’s a bulletin board in the break room at work, upon which people often place little newspaper clippings thought to be of interest to the office population at large… they get changed often, and make for a nice diversion while you’re waiting for the god-awful coffee to brew.

But today the newspaper article (I assume this came from the L.A. Times) was titled something like “What to do When You’re Heading for the Cold”, and it was a whole half-page article about preparing to go outside of Los Angeles to one of those scary places with snow.

Things like, you know, dressing warmly in layers? They spend about three paragraphs telling people in Los Angeles how to dress warmly. Three paragraphs telling grown adults that you need to wear warm clothes when you go out in the cold. The article also recommended taking brief walks at night (When it’s usually a bone-chilling 50 degrees or so in the winter) for a few days before your trip to get yourself “acclimated.”

And then - this was the icing on the cake - they mentioned the risks of hypothermia and frostbite, cautioning that “Even a mild case of frostbite should receive medical attention.”

Do people here really need to be told that? Do people here go up to the mountains and play in the snow until the skin of their fingertips actually crystalizes from the cold, and just go back in for cocoa wondering why they can’t feel anything in their fingers? Serves them right if that’s actually the case.