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When winter weather arrives, I’m blunt with my international students who are new to Canada: Stay warm, don’t drown.
Almost all of my students at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario, are from much warmer climates and have rarely seen snow. They usually ask about how to buy their first winter coats and boots.
I also take time in class for what may be life saving conversations with them about cold weather and dangers of walking on ice over rivers, ponds and lakes.
I’ve written far too many winter stories about people dying from the cold and ice-covered water.
I don’t want any of my students to become another grim news story.
Here’s the annoucement I shared today with my students. It recaps what what talked about, including links to information.
You have my permission to copy and share it with your students, too. (The “Hello {first name}” string generates the student’s first name in the D2L learning management system we use to communicate with students).
Winter Clothing and Safety Tips
Hello {firstname}:
With below-freezing temperatures, wind and snow in the weather forecast for the Kitchener area for last weekend in November, I’m not surprised students were asking me about winter clothing in class this week.
Stay warm and dry
The goal for winter clothing is to keep you dry and protected from the wind. Wind chill is a term you will hear in weather forecasts when the outside temperature is at zero Celsius, or below. It means the harder the wind blows, the colder the air feels – and the more dangerous the cold is.
If you’re looking for a winter coat, expect to pay $100 to $200 for an effective, wind- and water resistant coat. I recommend looking for function over fashion: how well it fits and keeps you warm, not how cool you look.
I encourage you to get a coat with an integral hood, which tightly snugs around your face and neck.
Also, I’ve always liked coats that extend below my waist, to the top part of my thighs. That covers my backside and helps keeps cold wind from blowing up my back when I am are outside waiting for the bus on a day like in the photo at the top of this announcement, in January 2024 at the Block Line LRT station.
My shopping tips
Marks Work Warehouse is a good place to look for outerwear. I see this Columbia brand mens winter jacket on a Black Friday sale today. This parka jacket also looks good, would likely be a bit warmer, but more bulky.
Insider Tip: Canadian Tire owns Marks Work Warehouse. Sometimes, Canadian Tire (an automotive, tools and home equipment kind of store) also sells a smaller range of winter clothing that’s on deep discount. Like this parka for $80 for Black Friday.
Peavey Mart offers more rugged outdoor clothing, generally for construction and farm workers outdoors all day in cold weather.
Marks, Canadian Tire and Peavey sell winter boots. I’ve also had good success shopping for winter footwear at Factory Shoe in Kitchener.
Always think about good treads on your winter boots, to minimize your chance of a nasty fall. And I like boots that cover at least the top of my ankle, to keep my feet dry.
Running shoes are not a good choice to walk in the snow.
Winter Danger: Cold
Cold winter weather can injure you, with frostbite damaging your fingers, toes or ears. Or you might break a wrist or ankle when you slip while walking cross an icy sidewalk or driveway.
Do not trust the ice covering rivers, creeks or ponds to be strong enough to carry your weight – especially if temperatures are near zero degrees Celsius.
Breaking through ice into near-freezing water will cause rapid hypothermia and incapacitate you, if you don’t drown first. It is extremely difficult to climb out of cold water without help.
Call 911 immediately if you see someone go through ice. Don’t go out on the ice yourself to get them: you will likely end up in the water, too.
Local firefighters are trained and equipped for the ice rescues, wearing waterproof suits that float, ropes and boats. This video shows firefighters training at night for ice rescues.
My experience as a member of Toastmasters International helped me pass a teaching test to successfully earn my first contract as a business communications instructor at Conestoga College in 2020.
In every semester I have instructed since then, in person or online, I mention my membership in the Cambridge Toastmasters Club. I, particular, I suggest my international students investigate Toastmasters to build communication and leadership skills in a new culture.
Toastmasters International was founded in 1924 at YCMA in Santa Clara, California. Today, it has more than 270,000 members, in 150 countries, in more than 14,000 local clubs around the world.
Cambridge Toastmasters was founded 50 years ago and meets Thursdays at 7 p.m. Members range from senior business leaders to entrepreneurs to recent college graduates practicing their communications skills and receiving feedback in a supportive environment.
Toastmasters offers members opportunities to build personal confidence and leadership skills through practicing public speaking. This link shares information about Toastmasters programs.
There’s also a Toastmasters International YouTube channel with self-help videos you can learn from and share at no charge.
If you’re scared of public speaking or worried your communication skills aren’t as strong as you like, I encourage you to visit a Toastmasters Club to see what they offer.
This year, Cambridge, Ontario, residents remembered the last big Grand River flood on May 17, 1974, with a 50th anniversary event at Cambridge Firehall Museum and Education Centre.
It caused millions of dollars of damage in downtown Galt 50 years ago, but it isn’t the only flood anniversary this year.
The storm killed 81 people in Toronto. Damage there was estimated at between $25 million and $100 million, or more than $1 billion, says the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Galt downtown flooded
In Galt, now called Downtown Cambridge, there were dozens of people rescued from homes along the Grand River by firefighters using boats.
No injuries were noted after the rainstorm storm flooded downtown Galt and washed-out sections of roads between Blair and Galt and Blair and Preston. The storm also destroyed the tent city at the International Plowing Match at Breslau.
The river rose four metres above normal and covered Water Street and Grand Avenue.
The Galt Evening Reporter on Monday, October 18, 1954, covered the flooding in detail, including eyewitness accounts of bystanders rescuing a Waterloo man from a submerged car on flooded Highway 97 east, and men on horseback saving a herd of cattle trapped by rising waters at the Cruickston Park Farm in Estate in Blair.
Bring your Saturday night singing voice to a Folk Music Pub Night at Wesley United Church on October 19, 2024.
I’ll be your emcee for the night, as local trio Tea for Three will be joined in concert by two other local folk musicians, Bill Nesbitt and Tom Miller.
Admission is by donation.
Local musicians in the spotlight
Tea For Three consists of Paul Morris, Gwen Potter, and Brad McEwen, who are also members of the band Tethera, which has performed across Ontario and in the UK. The repertoire is traditional folk music, mostly from England, with many tunes from France, Belgium, Scotland, Canada, Scandinavia, and anywhere else as long as they like it and it fits.
Bill loves traditional music of all kinds and plays Anglo Concertina. He also plays for Contra, Morris, and Ceilidh dances throughout southern Ontario. He has a particular interest in songs and tunes from Newfoundland.
Tom has been attending folk clubs, concerts and festivals for more than 50 years, and singing at open stages for over twenty years. He ran the Moonshine Cafe Folk Club and Song Circle in Oakville for 13 years before moving to Cambridge.
“Tom sings unaccompanied – all the songs have choruses – please join in,” Brad says.
Again this week in class at Conestoga College, I told my 20-something-year-old students about the value I give to simple paper business cards in a digital world. They’re graduating at the end of this semester and will be looking for work. I encourage them to add business cards to their job-search tool kit.
And since the class was about Starting a Consulting Practice, talking about business cards was even more appropriate in a world of personal business branding. In mind, it’s showing you’re ready to connect with potential clients.
I adopt the outlook that you never know who you might meet today, who might be the connection to the job you are looking for. My ritual of placing business cards in my pocket at the start of the day primes me to be ready and open to opportunities.
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