An amazing thing happened today as I made my way to the supermarket: It snowed.

Of course, having been brought up in the harsh Canadian climate, this wasn’t all that exciting for me. After all, as young lad, I was often forced to leave my warm igloo wearing nothing but my earmuffs, snow shoes, and thermo-heated undies, trudge over treacherous mountains and fend off ferocious polar bears — just to get to school.

No, the exciting thing for me was to bear witness to the Oxonian reaction to snow. Little kids sticking out their tongues and twirling and dancing among the snowflakes; couples huddling closer together and hopelessly trying to avoid the onslaught using their umbrellas; and best of all, the huge crowd of citizens huddled at the entrance of the nearest shopping mall — waiting for the ‘ferocious’ storm to pass.

In fact, it was so amusing to see people actually take shelter that I couldn’t help but turn around and snap a picture.

And then, 15 minutes later, it was all over; little puddles on the ground remaining as the only traces of what had happened earlier.

Meanwhile, back home in Ottawa…