Blog: Judging by the cold and the wintry pictures, England appears to be experiencing a similar climate to Canada at the moment, writes Shropshire expat Rebecca Lawrence.

In fact, the weather may even be worse, or having a worse affect at any rate as England is not geared up to cope with snow like Canada is

The problem in England seems to be the snow comes and then melts, comes and then melts, and so it makes everything slushy and icy.

Whereas here in Moose Jaw the snow has been on the ground since mid-November and will be here until April at the earliest.

It hasn’t snowed much for several weeks. The first lot of snow came down heavily and besides that there have been sporadic flurries.

But it’s never got warm enough to melt.

Last year all this was a novelty for me.

This year I am just cold. Very cold. In the past week temperatures have got down to -24 degrees centigrade and that’s not even including the wind chill.

But then they go back up again so you get some sort of break.For a while.

This weekend was a balmy -10 degrees centigrade so I took full advantage.

The skating oval at Wakamow Valley

I spent Sunday afternoon on one of the city’s outdoor skating rinks at Wakamow Valley.

There are definitely benefits to living in Saskatchewan during the winter.

Skating outside on proper ice (not like the pretend ice they create outside Hampton Court Palace) is a wonderful feeling.

Moose Jaw has outdoor rinks all over the city and it really is a great way to exercise and feel extra Christmassy.

After 45 minutes, I admit my fingers were completely frozen and untying my skates, which I bought second-hand for five dollars, was extremely painful.

Christmas Day itself is expected to be -6 degrees centigrade so it will be perfectly pleasant and perhaps even warmer than England — which seems very strange.

My colleagues are certainly bemused that a bit of snow has shut down airports across Europe.

They find it hilarious when I tell them many of my friends haven’t gone in to work because of the treacherous journeys they would have to make.

Here I’ve got used to dealing with cold and snow – it  cannot grind everything to a halt for six months of the year.

I know to wear proper winter boots and dress in layers.

The skating oval at Wakamow Valley

Each night we plug our car to keep the engine warm so it starts more easily the next day.

My husband (not me — it’s far too cold) sweeps the snow from our pathways each day and then watches as the wind throws the snow back down on.

The snow here is not like England’s snow. It’s very dry and powdery and blows all over the place. You can’t even build a snowman out of it, which is very disappointing.

People from England keep asking me how I can possibly cope with so much snow all the time and temperatures of -20 C.

But I guess the answer is you just get on with it — as some parts of England are discovering.

Last year it was a novelty; now it’s just the way winter is.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not counting down the weeks until temperatures rise above zero again.