Cold, Cruel World

Whenever I start an entry, I do a search to see if it had been done before. This story is about being cold. Yes, I have covered it. I wrote about being overweight and of how the heavy-set tend to be more comfortable in the cooler weather than in the brutal heat. I noted this when I saw a 20+ polar bear in the San Diego Zoo. This is, however, what the non-heavy-set think about the obese/overweight. I speak for myself.
I also wrote about the cost of heating fuel going up, up, up and of our need to conserve fossil fuels. Even at work they aren't exactly overheating the place.
I've been watching television programs that are set in New England. They love to capture things in the autumn or winter. No one ever falls on ice or gets splashed by slush at a street corner. No one steps into snow piles that go above the ankle but below the knee. And consider how much extra weight one carries with a winter coat on.
These days I focus more on my skin. Cold weather dries out the skin. Cold weather that is dry cold can be worse for the skin. Although winds that blow off rivers seem to have a greater, more chilling effect on a body.
I'm still in Southern California. I have been begging for the hot summer days and nights to end. There is nothing attractive about waking up with sweat on the pillow from a neck that has been perspiring. My winter coat hangs at the very far side of my wardrobe. It's wrapped in dry cleaner plastic. I last wore it some five years ago when I visited Amsterdam in February.
I don't miss wearing that heavy coat. I don't miss navigating my way around snow, ice, and slush. I don't miss carrying coffee in a paper cup and thinking how it's more effective as a handwarmer than it is a hot beverage to warm me down from the inside.
I am looking forward to cooler climes!