I think I have now discovered the secret reason for there being so many writers (and so many universities) in New England. You see, for almost half the year, this place kinda shuts down. In the peak of winter, sane people don't really want to go out unless they absolutely have to. Downtown Stamford that used to be so crowded and colorful only a few months back now looks deserted. Even the massive parking lots in the shopping malls look empty. The few people that you see on the road have a kind of determined, tormented look on their faces. Yesterday, as I was filling gas at a gas station, I could literally feel my finger tips slowly becoming numb through a thick pair of gloves.

I have been consistently trying to ignore the weather. But it is hard not to feel a twinge of resentment towards the unseen forces as you slowly bundle up in preparation for going out. What is worse is, you again have to shed all those layers of clothes in a few minutes when you are back from your errand. I feel a little like a disgruntled bear as I slowly shuffle out towards work every morning.

I don't mind the snow. As a matter of fact, I love snow. Watching snow falling or walking downtown after a fresh snowfall is still the best part of winter here. But friends here tell me that I would feel different if Stamford were a part of the snow belt and if it were truely snowing here. It seems that we don't get REAL snow falls in Fairfield county. REAL snow fall is what our cousins got when they called up from Albany to cancel our invitation to their place (They called up over fourty people that morning to cancell the party). They got 30 inches of snow that day. On an average, it took over 4 hours for folks in Albany to dig their car out from under snow. A colleague's daughter who lives in the outskirts of Coopertown in upstate New York also gets REAL snow. Recently, it snowed so much that that she could not open the front doors of her house. They had to call in help to remove the snow. The truck that came out also got stuck in the snow. It was evening before they could get out. Before last week, no one took our complaints about cold all that seriously either. Now everyone agrees that it is unseasonably cold. No one has apparently seen the likes of this in the last 30-35 years. I have started taking a certain masochistic delight in telling that to people who don't have the privilage of living through such cold weather. Take that! Huh ...