Canadians are well known for being a particularly polite people. We hold doors, we say “sorry”, we kindly wave pedestrians across the street (even when we have the right of way). But today I want to share with you a stunning realization: politeness is, in fact, a debilitating condition that Canadians suffer through on a daily basis.

As we say goodbye to the month of February, we must also say farewell to our most recent crop of Winter snow storms, Canada’s only natural resource that is in no fear of ever being exported. Yes, unlike Westeros, where Winter never seems to come, ours never wants to leave, forcing Canadians throughout the country to make a fire, bundle up in Long John’s and start complaining. But hey, I guess you can’t be called the Great White North for nothing.

Spoiler alert: I am not a Canadian.

I was born in Massachusetts, with only the faintest connection to Canada through my mother's grandfather, who moved from Nova Scotia as a young man, and a couple family recipes, like Blueberry Grunt, that I didn't even realize were originally Canadian until recently.