Get a grip: Vancouver finds out what it’s like to live in Canada, as ice and snow cover city streets

This winter, Vancouverites are getting a taste of what it’s like to actually live in Canada. And honestly, we’re not coping very well at all.

Weekly snowfalls over the past month, coupled with uncommonly low temperatures in between have turned many of the city’s streets - including mine - into ice rinks. The glassy sidewalks are no better. Unsteady pedestrians shuffle along, limbs akimbo and backsides thrust out like haemorrhoidal penguins.

We’re baffled by the cold reality underfoot.

Because the Canadian winter never really reaches Vancouver, right?

Well, there’s a frostbite warning for the nearby Fraser Valley, with windchills down to -20 Celsius. There’s almost three metres of snow on the mountains that overlook the city. And in Metro Vancouver itself, temperatures are struggling to get above zero, compared to the seasonal average of plus 6C.