A winter that never came!

Ahh.. the vocabulary is already beginning to change although winter's yet to come. It was summer just till last month and come September....it's all a talk about jackets, scarves, cardigans, and sometimes, even a hat already.
This is Canada.
Life and clothing in Canada will change, suddenly from this month on .Everything will become heavy-duty. But hey wait, isn't it just October? Indeed, but the unpredictable chill in the wind says it's time to plan to be snug. Who knows what the winter story would be this year.
With each year a new challenge, every coming winter's day will be a different story.
The typical early signs of winter here are chilly windy days and cold nights. A regular brand of a person detests this, but some romantics look forward to this weather bringing the crunch under the feet all around.
The sound of the fallen mix of rust and yellow maple leaves on the ground and the changing colours of Autumn make October a welcome in a strange way. October also brings some warm air on and off. While temperatures continue to dip and dive, gradually making way into winter, the returning warm days of October, called the 'Indian summer', can make one nostalgic. Canadian highs and lows of both life and weather can be quite unpredictable. Confronting hands on can mean throwing yourself into water without knowing how to swim. So, a smart one would always want to learn by seasoning through strategy and intelligence, rather than going head-on with it.
In Canada it’s all a game of digits and forecasting. Both life and weather have taken down a toll on many who didn't pay heed to warnings. At the same time, it doesn't take long for one to figure out the inter-relation between the two. For some, the simple trial and error formula helps and one finds out that to understand the Canadian thing, more than luck, hands-on matters.
Entering my sixteenth winter here in Canada this year, I'll be looked at as a pro’ and with envy by the new arrivals in the country. My life will be like a typical Canadian; resentful of the snow and cold but yet well-prepared, anxious inside but calm and cool in disposition. I will make sure that I don't let my apprehensions and fears get to me. I will plan to work in coherence with the forthcoming dumpings of the white stuff. And once winter arrives to stay forever ( it seems like forever when it’s here), I will shovel and dig and shovel and dig and shovel and dig till the last winter blast passes out in late March. So all this time, I will run, but will not hide or hibernate, look the winter in the eye and emerge a winner when it's time for the squirrels to hop on the backyard fence.For some, driving daily to work on snowy, salty, slushy roads and highways will be the greatest challenge in the winter. While for others, waiting for a bus ride or a train commute, in -40 windchill and -30 degrees centigrade, will be the toughest norm. But life will not cease. Highways and roads would be cleared of snow, and salted to keep cars away from skidding and slipping. Subways and trains running on time rain, hail or storm. In the car, winter tires, windshield washer fluid, a blanket, a candle, a flashlight, a huge bag of coarse road salt will keep it going. At home, cranked up heat, slushy entrances, dirty soggy shoes in the halls, jackets and coats hanging sloppily on hooks and stairwell railings will keep the indoor cheer.On snowsqualls, snowstorms or blizzard warning days, it will mean I need extra time on the road to reach work on time. Winters would also mean that I become a weather network freak, curtail outdoor activity, adjust to shorter days and longer nights for the whole four months.
But when in Pakistan, fifteen years back, severe winter and snow was, either, on the mountains or in the freezer; it was never for me.
Raised purely as an urban girl, my city was warm and humid. Karachi, lapped by the Arabian Sea, hooked karachiites on romantic cloudy days and just one season... summer. The ocean breeze brought upon the city coolness in the evenings giving respite from heat on a daily basis.
I always felt nature had been unfair to this city weather wise. All we saw was only summer, no fall, no spring, no winter. First of all, winter in Karachi was a far-cry and if at all, it would be barely a two-week fling. Before anyone could feel the chill, it would be gone. One would hardly see the woollies out of the closet, and by the time some cooling came in, temperatures would be warming back up again. It was as if the weather's cheated on you, and this hide and seek would leave you without a chance to show off that Cashmere or that coat you shopped from abroad.
Today, in trying to compare the meaning of the word winter, I find how geography diversifies the meaning. Winter can mean sitting in your volkswagon in the sun, peeling peanuts and oranges while parked in the hills of Pakistan, ignorant of the need for snow tires. And when living in North America, winter can become such a burdensome word if one steps out of the house unprepared......thus, synonymously suggesting words like parka, jacket, coat, thermal, gloves, scarf, boots, layers, hypothermia and more.
And while the vocabulary will continue to change around fireplace huddles, on cosy couches in living rooms, in the bus stops with red noses and frosting breaths, in sloppy, slushy snowy streets, the icy winds from the north gust in another treacherous message with more chill to the urban girl whooing into her ear a message of disappointment that the winter will not be like the winter of back home.... the winter of Karachi.....'a winter that never came!'