The magic number

Most of us don't like the cold
Not the kind that makes your nostrils stick together,
The kind that makes it impossible to take a big breath
The kind that freezes your water pipes if you forget to plug the heating tape in
Makes your car impossible to start if you forget to plug the block heater in
and forms ice on the insides of your windows.

But there is a select group of the human race
(okay, that part is debatebable)
who pray at night, if its going to be cold anyways,
dear god, please let it be -32C.

For -32C is that magic number that all kids look forward to
They peer out the window every 20 minutes all evening
Excited at every drop in the temperature
Even the teenagers
More excited than the on night before christmas

Kids who live in less wintery parts of the country
Sometimes get "snow days"
A day off school because the inch of snow that fell overnight
Has completely snarled the traffic


We don't get snow days.
We are prepared and accustomed to it
We prefer driving in the snow
Because it fills up the potholes in the road

But we do get "cold days"
When the mercury drops below that magic number - -32C
The powers that be have decided that is the point
To call it off

And,
today is a cold day!