It's Still Sock Weather For Me

These ankles are scared of the cold, too!

Most of southern Canada is currently basking in very unseasonably warm temperatures, right from Vancouver to Winnipeg to Montreal.  It's mid-March (still winter for 7 days), and whereas there is usually still some snow on the ground and the threat of snow in the skies, we're having temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees C - that's May weather right there.  Even in Toronto, one of the warmer and most southerly cities, this is odd.  And it's more odd because it's lasting for a while.  Sometimes a place might get a little wave of warm weather for a few days, but this has been a week of glorious warmth, and at least two weeks more of it to come.  If this is March, what will July be like?

Despite the fact that it's going to be 18 degrees today (balmy, wonderful spring weather) and that Drew and I enjoyed a beer on a patio last night after work without gloves or hats on and were perfectly comfortable, I am afraid to not wear socks yet.  After a person feels the cold creeping through layers of clothing and pricking their skin with its sharp fingers, it becomes difficult to trust that the weather really is as warm as it seems and that the cold isn't just playing a trick to get you to expose your skin to it.

Socks are the final frontier of winter clothing for me.  They make me feel safe from chilliness.  They're the last thing I abandon as spring approaches and my toes start to yearn for open air.  My ankles get nervous about being exposed in case there's a chill in the air, and socks make them feel secure.  Despite the fact that I've gotten rid of the long-johns and stopped wearing gloves on my bike ride to work, I can't bring myself to leave the socks at home.  It's too risky!!

Only when it becomes totally clear that my feet are in the clear with regards to cold air will I feel ready to take the socks off.  Until then, it's still sock weather.