Winter's Little Pleasures

Well, Christmas is behind us (unless you are a serious twelve-days celebrator or from a country or culture that puts more emphasis on Kings Day (is that how you say it in English? Bostonist knows it as Día de Reyes from our days as BuenosAiresist)). (Also, if (like this Bostonist) you're not Christian, Christmas is, technically, behind you, but you don't care at all.) Now the portion of the year begins where cold weather progressively loses its charm. (Sure, there's New Year's to distract us from the fact that winter hurts, but that will soon be a memory too, and the popular imagination about New Year's isn't all tied up with snow and sleighs and stuff the way Christmas is.) So now is a good time for Bostonist to take a moment to sing the praises of one of our favorite winter phenomena: Ice bubbles in frozen puddles.

Come on, you know what we mean. Just look along any kerb stone or potholed street today and you will see thin white ice clinging to the pavement with empty space inside. From Bostonist's careful climatological observations, we have concluded that this happens when the temperature is just above freezing with precipitation during the day, then dips below freezing at night. The roadways and sidewalks get warm from the sun and melt the undersides of snow piles or frozen puddles, allowing water to run out while the tops remain icy. As the temperature drops, the empty space underneath the frozen puddle-tops gets sealed up with ice again, and voila: ice bubbles. Why do we love this so much? Because the crackly, poppy crunch of stepping on these frozen bubbles surpasses the pleasure of popping bubble wrap. It's almost compulsive: Bostonist can hardly walk down the street in a straight line when the conditions are right for ice bubbles - we have to scan the kerb and the street and step on every bubble we see. (This morning, running late and racing to work on our bicycle after taking Toddler Bostonist to the doctor, we almost went out of our mind: There were ice bubbles everywhere, and we couldn't stop to step on any of them!)

Think Bostonist is crazy? Don't knock it till you've tried it. And tell us, what simple winter pleasures do you look forward to every year?