4 ms·

The winters are also... bracing, to say the very least. If you like feet of snow, it’s great, otherwise maybe not so much. I love to visit, but I wouldn’t last

The winters are also... bracing, to say the very least. If you like feet of snow, it’s great, otherwise maybe not so much. I love to visit, but I wouldn’t last a year.

closeparen 8y ago
Winter is a tooling problem. The tools are straightforward and Chicago is well-practiced in their use. You put on a coat. The city plows. You drive a 4WD car carefully. It works out. Compared to paying half your “upper middle class” salary for living conditions that most Americans would identify as poverty (roommates, paper thin walls, 1970s fixtures, no dishwasher, garbage disposal, laundry, or parking, etc) due to game-theoretically intractable politics, it’s nothing.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- thrav 8y ago
  > You spend as little time outside as possible for several months. That’s a big fuckin’ problem for me. In fact, it’s the exact same reason I can’t live in the south. Y’all have heaters; they have AC. It all still means I’m trapped indoors and miserable much of the year. No thanks.
  - mantas 8y ago
    Proper winters are AWESOME. Skiing, winter hiking/camping.. Lots of things to do. Year-cycle puts a nice rhythm in life. November is time to bring out tea, books, warm socks and reflect the year that is about to pass. Then first signs of spring comes, everybody is out celebrating and there's a deep-rooted feeling that rough time has passed and now you can relax for a bit. I couldn't live somewhere without proper 4 seasons. I did stay in non-snowy areas for extended period of time more than once and it's just.. sad. On the other hand, it's probably upbringing&culture.
    - magnusdeus123 8y ago
      Moved to Montreal from Vancouver and this is exactly what I noticed. There's something the seeps into the people that live in regions with a proper 4-seasons that doesn't happen elsewhere.
  - Kihashi 8y ago
    > > You spend as little time outside as possible for several months. > That’s a big fuckin’ problem for me. Dunno about the GP, but I live in Cleveland and I spend plenty of time outside in the winter. Even here, skiing (downhill and XC), sledding, hiking, camping, and ice fishing are all doable in the winter.
ghaff 8y ago
If you want to pay at least double (if not triple) digit dollars per year to avoid significant snow, that is of course your choice. But there shouldn't be any expectation that everyone should be be able to do so. (Or that such would even make sense in the aggregate--not everyone can live in California.)
- closeparen 8y ago
  Three times the US population could live in California at Hong Kong density.
- DmenshunlAnlsis 8y ago
  I live in Belgium, so your assumptions really couldn’t fly farther from the mark.

The winters are also... bracing, to say the very least. If you like feet of snow, it’s great, otherwise maybe not so much. I love to visit, but I wouldn’t last a year.

closeparen 8y ago

Winter is a tooling problem. The tools are straightforward and Chicago is well-practiced in their use. You put on a coat. The city plows. You drive a 4WD car carefully. It works out. Compared to paying half your “upper middle class” salary for living conditions that most Americans would identify as poverty (roommates, paper thin walls, 1970s fixtures, no dishwasher, garbage disposal, laundry, or parking, etc) due to game-theoretically intractable politics, it’s nothing.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
thrav 8y ago
> You spend as little time outside as possible for several months. That’s a big fuckin’ problem for me. In fact, it’s the exact same reason I can’t live in the south. Y’all have heaters; they have AC. It all still means I’m trapped indoors and miserable much of the year. No thanks.
- mantas 8y ago
  Proper winters are AWESOME. Skiing, winter hiking/camping.. Lots of things to do. Year-cycle puts a nice rhythm in life. November is time to bring out tea, books, warm socks and reflect the year that is about to pass. Then first signs of spring comes, everybody is out celebrating and there's a deep-rooted feeling that rough time has passed and now you can relax for a bit. I couldn't live somewhere without proper 4 seasons. I did stay in non-snowy areas for extended period of time more than once and it's just.. sad. On the other hand, it's probably upbringing&culture.
  - magnusdeus123 8y ago
    Moved to Montreal from Vancouver and this is exactly what I noticed. There's something the seeps into the people that live in regions with a proper 4-seasons that doesn't happen elsewhere.
- Kihashi 8y ago
  > > You spend as little time outside as possible for several months. > That’s a big fuckin’ problem for me. Dunno about the GP, but I live in Cleveland and I spend plenty of time outside in the winter. Even here, skiing (downhill and XC), sledding, hiking, camping, and ice fishing are all doable in the winter.

ghaff 8y ago

If you want to pay at least double (if not triple) digit dollars per year to avoid significant snow, that is of course your choice. But there shouldn't be any expectation that everyone should be be able to do so. (Or that such would even make sense in the aggregate--not everyone can live in California.)

closeparen 8y ago
Three times the US population could live in California at Hong Kong density.
DmenshunlAnlsis 8y ago
I live in Belgium, so your assumptions really couldn’t fly farther from the mark.