First Snow

Yesterday, Washington D.C had its first snow of the season. The weather has been incredibly mild and sometimes downright warm (mid 70s in winter). At this point, if George W. Bush even utters the phrase "I don't believe in Global Warming", I think that everybody in the world would laugh. Surely he's joking right?

Anyways, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't experienced snow for a good three years! For those readers that haven't seen snow either, there are three things that charaterize this phenomenon:

(1) Snow is white. This is where the expression "its fleece was white as snow" comes from.

(2) Snow is wet. All proper winter footwear should be plasticized. If you choose to be stubborn and walk around with your suede "city shoes", you will soon find that your socks and toes are wet, and your shoes don't look so trendy anymore. D'oh!

(3) But above all, snow is cold. Actually, it's damn cold. People cope with this in different ways. Some women would rather look hot than cover up. And they will walk around with little shirts and short skirts. But people stare at them with disbelief and snickering. Others pull out their most expensive fur coats, fur-lined hat and furry boats. I am more of the bundle-up-in-layers persuasion.

I would recommend the following attire:
-A big puffy coat. If you are a rap star, go ahead and buy the biggest, puffiest, less form fitting coat out there;
-A hat. No matter how you slice it, hats look dorky. Even if you have the half-beret, hat-baseball caps that young, trendy women wear, it's silly looking. But a hat is incredibly useful because it prevents the heat from escaping your body through the top of your head. It works. Trust me: tried, tested and true;
-Good gloves. I would recommend mittens or cashmere gloves. Nice and toasty;
-Sturdy boots and thick socks;
-If you are like me and you happen to have gone out to dinner BEFORE the snow, and suddenly realize that the rapdily falling snow will damage both your large leather bag from India and your computer case, throw your pride out of the door and cover them both with garbage bags. You may look like a homeless person, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

When it snows, whatever you do, you are bound to look like a crazy person, a Yeti or the Pillsbury Doe Boy. Ah, snow, the great equalizer.