Extreme cold, continued

Clear. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 28. Wind chill minus 21 this evening and minus 36 overnight. Risk of frostbite. So says Environment Canada again, and meanwhile, a possibly record-breaking snowstorm is brewing on the eastern coast of the USA. 

In Ottawa, a convoy of truckers from western Canada and their supporters arrived to protest against restrictions of every kind and vaccination rules in particular. 

As an Englishman, says Chris ironically, he wants the freedom to drive on the left when everyone else is driving on the right. 

I personally think the truckers' demonstration is an attention-seeking howl against loneliness.* This evening, not mentioning that, I sent a very short letter to the Editor of the Ottawa Citizen, commenting on the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions created by this huge demonstration. I know someone who intends to brave the crowds and the police in order to carry a placard with the slogan Stop Air Pollution. Protect the Environment! I hope she won't get into trouble. Another acquaintance of mine, sympathetic with the truckers' cause, says she is going out to offer them hot drinks.

Interesting times.

I persuaded Chris to drive us (on the right) to Wakefield, this afternoon, where we walked for an hour in the minus 20-something windchill. We must be getting hardened to the cold because we couldn't have borne that a couple of weeks ago. We walked through the village to the covered bridge and back, the sidewalks strewn with sand, under a very blue sky, as you can see from the photos, with seriously long icicles hanging from the buildings.

We love the peacefulness of Wakefield.

On a video chat with George, Sha and Eddy in Australia where it's tomorrow morning, they were complaining about the heat, Eddy making balloons (blimps, he called them) drift around in the downdraft from their air-conditioner.

* Footnote, Saturday: I had a new insight into this, on reading reports of why some of the truckers and their supporters are taking part. These are first-generation immigrants from Eastern Europe, and the recent COVID-related government restrictions remind them too much of their youth in Communist-controlled countries. In another article it is revealed that a fifth of Canada's truck drivers are from south Asia. These people do not support the protest but fear that our food-supply systems are breaking down and that could lead to more unrest.

My friend survived her solo demonstration on Parliament Hill without mishap, carrying her homemade placard saying STOP AIR POLLUTION, PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT. She sent me an email afterwards: 

I received a lot of thumbs up and smiles for the most part. Five pickup trucks put on the gas and bumped out the fumes. Two people cussed me out. [...] the organizer of the group from the west said that he was the inventor of a catalytic converter that many of the big rigs had on their engines. I said that the area still smelled and he said maybe it was my breath because I was wearing a mask. Most people were not wearing masks. 

So I got my protest out of my system. Glad I made my statement.