I hurried out of the house, grabbed K and got into the car in a scurry. I got to the bus stop a minute before the scheduled stop. And I was supposed to be there 5 mins before pick-up time, that is the regulation. K and I waited for 3 mins and the bus came. I got out into the –35C weather in my full winter regalia and dashed to get him, away from the bus driver’s responsibility. He was crying. The bus driver told me, he is a bit “injured”. When I asked what happened, Cam stuck his bleeding tongue out. He licked the bus’ window and his tongue wouldn’t budged. If it weren’t for Cam in pain and in lamentations, I would have peed myself laughing out loud!

Note to tropical residents who will find themselves relocated into Canada and other similar places, do not hold any wet body part in freezing surfaces. Especially, do not stick tongue out into a flagpole. If you do, in the flagpole you shall be attached! Equally, advise your children to keep their tongues in the warm recesses of their mouths when inside school bus.

This has been the coldest Nov 27^th in 10 years. –35C with wind chill. –25C without wind. To visualize how cold –25C, tap water doused into a car’s window would turn into ice in less than 5 secs. You could scratch a message into that film of ice over the window.  Exposed skin would catch frostbite in 10 mins. Wind blowing more than 10 km/h adds to the coldness, factor another 10C dip into the already bitter cold temp. 

We all sleep in the second floor of the house. My room oversees the garage roof. The snow that has accumulated outside my window has piled 2 feet above the roof. If not for the extension the roof accommodated into my window, my window would have been buried in 2 feet deep snow. I saw our neighbor’s version of my room. Somebody cleared out the pile of snow from the roof. Maybe I should do the same. Now if I could only pry my window open! Tried that in vain, the snow and ice have welded my window shut!