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Smells like teen logic: cold is better than uncool

Thom asks 'what the heck is wrong with kids', not 'these days' but always
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For your consideration - Thom Barker For your consideration - Thom Barker

In the past, this was the time of year I would break out the long johns.

I know, dead sexy, right?

Living in places such as Smithers, Labrador, Saskatchewan and Ottawa, thermal underwear is not a nice-to-have, it is critical infrastructure.

I've found that's not so much the case in Prince Rupert. I don't even have them anymore, but I did break out my rain pants and gumboots the other day.

The critical thing about living anywhere is being prepared for the climate.

With my full rain suit, I'm really quite comfortable going out even in some of the sideways rain we've had recently.

I have to ask, though, what the heck is wrong with kids?

You will note I did not end that question with 'these days.'

I never want to be one of those people who looks back nostalgically on how we walked both ways uphill to school in a snowstorm and how our parents beat us senseless and we didn't wear seatbelts, played with dangerous toys and ate asbestos or whatever it is the claims are that somehow make us better than the new generation.

Watching kids deal with today's challenges, does make me a bit nostalgic for how much easier we had it in a lot of ways.

But seriously, what is up with not dressing for the weather? You live in Prince Rupert, at least put on a rain jacket for heaven's sake.

This is nothing new. We were no different. Despite the biting cold of an Ottawa winter, we'd walk go to school in our jean jackets and Adidas, freezing our butts off even though our parents provided us with the proper attire to be warm.

Cold was better than uncool, I guess.

And, apparently, so is wet.

 

 



Thom Barker

About the Author: Thom Barker

After graduating with a geology degree from Carleton University and taking a detour through the high tech business, Thom started his journalism career as a fact-checker for a magazine in Ottawa in 2002.
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