“Winter comes and stays.

A white world escaped for now,

Darkness is warmer.”

This is a haiku I wrote for a celebration in 2011 for the Mercury Espresso Bar in Toronto. I ran across it while sorting all my documents for my big move to Vancouver at the end of the month, but I figured it was relevant enough to quickly take a break from work and post this.

It’s relevant because (for any of you not in Canada or the US) we’re getting some really nasty weather out there. It’s supposed to go down to somewhere between -40C and -50C tonight. Just to put that into perspective, this is around the average temperature of many mid-latitudinal areas on Mars.

Just my luck. Leaving for the relatively balmy shores of British Columbia in three weeks, not to mention the warm embraces waiting for me there, and I get caught in an interplanetary cold snap. Maybe I should go to Mercury – for coffee, not to burn alive (or freeze at the poles).

Keep warm out there, kids.