Winter arrives unexpectedly, as it always seems to do.
   We shouldn’t be surprised, but we are.
   It is, after all, mid-November. This is Canada, and morning’s early chill should have been reminder enough to pull gloves, scarves and hats out of storage.
   But winter is not a feeling; even less it is a date.
   Winter truly begins with the first snowfall.
   Yesterday morning it was only a few flakes.
   Then it was flurries, and soon the rooftops below were covered in white. You could hear the slushy sounds of cars eleven stories down as the wet snow continued to accumulate.
   Of course, soon, you were caught up in the cross-town traffic. Driving is not easy in the first snowfall; it never is, as restless cab drivers recklessly swerve in an out of the steady traffic with unsteady drivers getting the feel of the slick roads. Slow and steady are the rules of the road; drive with the conditions if not the confidence.
   Freezing and melting, the unpredictable temperatures will be here for a while and all we can do is live with it for however long it takes.
   Winter arrives, almost unexpectedly, and takes over our lives for months at a time. The first snowfall has a way of reminding us of a new reality.
   Winter has this way of slowing us down.