Renata

A female sysop is a sysopette

Montréal mon amour

Fuck Paris, whenever I want to have great food and drinks, I can book a 5 hour beautiful train trip to Montréal. I did that on January’s last weekend – not coincidentally, my wedding/dating anniversary – and I am still in love with the city. I have been there before, just by the beginning of 2010′s Fall, and this year I had a more winter-ish experience. Boy, it REALLY snows there, but it’s so beautiful.

The only problem is combining lots of snow and good food – this makes you fat. But if you get over your weight paranoia, travelling to MTL during winter is lovely – just don’t forget GOOD SNOW BOOTS, otherwise walking will be a challenge. This was an atypical winter and wasn’t cold at all, so I could walk a lot and see things. And eat. Oh yes eat. Always.

I absolutely love it there, if you’ve never been, you have to.

Costume

Tudo bem que esse inverno tá sendo meia-boca – um ano atrás estava rolando Snowpocalypse e eu estava com neve quase na altura dos joelhos – pois até agora as ruas estão secas e o máximo que eu vi foi meia dúzia de floquinhos que dissolvem no dia seguinte. Mas, ainda assim, é fato que inverno é uma coisa à qual você se acostuma. Eu sou carioca, nascida num sábado de sol, quando todo mundo estava curtindo uma praia. E tenho ficado surpresa com minha reação de acordar, olhar a previsão do tempo, ver “hm… -5 é? Ah, não tá tão ruim assim”.

Claro que dá uma certa preguiça se desenrolar do edredom e vestir o uniforme de inverno. Meu truque tem sido tomar um bom banho à noite porque meu banheiro é meio frio (não tem aquecimento) e me desestimula de tomar banho de manhã. Eu também durmo melhor depois de um banho quentinho, claro. Para temperaturas entre 0 e -10, em geral duas camisas, calça e meia calça ou legging, meias grossas e um moletom, casaco de neve e cachecol compõem o tal uniforme. Eu não costumo usar luvas nessa temperatura, só enfio a mão no bolso. Quando fica mais frio que isso (não é muito comum em Toronto) eu acrescento mais camisas e mais meias, é a técnica Photoshop de aquecimento – camadas.

Sapato é um lance à parte. Tenho uma bota de couro bonita, mas ela é escorregadia pra andar na neve. Comprei uma galocha peludinha Tretorn ROSA e adoro. Ganhei uma nova de aniversário da Sula, ROXA, combina bem com um suéter igualmente ROXO que tenho, infelizmente tivemos pouca neve (é, eu gosto de neve, com moderação) e usei galocha exatamente DUAS VEZES esse ano, uma no dia em que a sensação térmica chegou a MENOS 25 e eu te digo, isso É FRIO PACAS – o problema é o vento, que não raramente chega a 40km/h, por causa do lago e da ausência de montanhas. Alguém precisa construir umas montanhas nessa cidade. Da última vez que pedalei – à noite, 10km! – estava fazendo -3 com ventos de 40km/h. Fiquei doente dois dias depois, surpreendente, não?

Vamos ver se eu vejo algum dia de Snowpocalypse esse ano. Depois de uma nevasca, quando abre o sol, o parque e as redondezas ficam lindíssimos, eu tenho fotos do ano passado – deve ser por isso que gosto de neve. A nevasca em si não me incomoda muito e acho tão bonitos os dias seguintes que fico empolgada durante. Mas, janeiro tem sido tão meh em termos de inverno – tem até chovido, e detesto chuva – que não estou levando muita fé.

Feed a fever, starve a cold

This is where you go to get sickI was very excited to have my flu shot early in December so I would be bug-free for this winter and would be able to enjoy outdoor winter activities – like skating, I’ve gone skating exactly twice last year before the rinks were closed – could do more yoga, well, many things. I even enjoyed a few days of higher temperatures by cycling to work. THEN everybody around me started getting sick with this annoying cold, which is a different virus, and I finally got it too. End of story, two weeks of sore throat, coughing, and the only activities I’ve been doing are going to the drugstore to buy more syrup and cold medicine. Now, you, tell me, isn’t that REALLY EXCITING?

Today, after two weeks, I don’t seem to be coughing anymore, although my throat is still a bit sensitive – I will keep eating right, drinking tea and taking meds, as I am travelling to Montréal this weekend and I don’t want to stay in the hotel during the trip. Wish me luck! It is indeed colder there and I want to walk and try some snow activities we couldn’t have this year in Toronto (because there was no snow :D). Stay tuned!

No it has not!

Oh, did I tell you that the winter had begun? NO IT HAS NOT! Like, 8 POSITIVE DEGREES, FOR REALZ? In the first week of January? I can’t believe this! I can’t believe I am not enjoying such a nice autumnistic afternoon by riding my bicycle around the city. But it’s a weekday and I gotta work. Hopefully, tomorrow will be nice too and I will be able to enjoy an outdoor Saturday. I hope this lasts, and Environment Canada was really wrong when they predicted “lots of snow” for this year. Have a wonderful warm winter your too!

It has begun

Sure I said just one week ago we weren’t getting real snow at Christmas eve, joking about living in Toronto and having above-freezing temperatures in December and everything. Then it started, exactly one day after Christmas, like all meteorologists are playing a prank on me. We got three days of a light, but constant snow, and lots of wind, and -12 temperatures. I took a picture from my office when the snow gave us a break – it sure doesn’t look that bad, but it was VERY cold outside.

During New Year’s Eve things got a little better and people were even able to celebrate outdoors, but it was just a quick break for what’s coming after us now: another week of snow, wind and freezing temperatures. Welcome, Canadian winter. I am glad I don’t have a driveway to shovel, and have lots of tea to keep me warm.

Happy New Year!

I hope your 2011 was just as incredible as mine, and I wish you people a FASCINATING and PROSPER New Year. See you in 2012!