Eerie Fog in January

January! Cold! Snow! Ice! Deep Freeze! Hibernation! Animals in their innate wisdom slumber away this bleak and cold season.

People bundle up in heavy warm winter coats and snowsuits, scarves, hats, mitts, boots. Your mouth emits steam as you talk; making everyone appear to be smoking cigarettes.
Snowmen stand frozen and erect in yards. Icicles hang off roofs.
I remember as a kid sticking my tongue on the frozen metal of our front door. It stuck!!! In panic, I'd pull my tongue back, ripping off a layer of skin, the metallic taste of blood instantly filling my mouth. My older brothers watching and laughing.
Do kids still do that today?

Over the last 3 days, however, it's been eerily foggy. Thick, heavy fog, that sits like a heavy shroud transporting us to another world. Swirly fog so bad that I can't see my neighbour's house across the street. Time is erased. No sun to mark the time of day.

The doorbell rings. I open the door to see a repairman standing on my front porch, his face a ghostly white in the strange light.
"Sorry, I'm late". He didn't sound particularly sorry. And he was almost 2 hours late. I thought he'd lost his way, or forgotten the appointment.

The phone rang. The line crackled with static.
"Hello?"
Nobody there.

I decided to venture out once the repairman left. Visibility was bad - would it be wiser to wait until tomorrow?
Nah - I'll chance it. Traffic should be minimal. It was, except for the ever-present 18-wheelers roaring at you out of the fog.

At the grocery store, while going through the cash I noticed that the cashier looked spacey, not quite "all there". She gave me 42 cents change. Then turned back to the cash drawer and gave me the rest - $4. Strange.

Next I went to the dep (corner store) for a hazelnut coffee. They guy serving me kept repeating
"Just coffee?"
"Yes, just coffee"
"Are you sure?"
What's there to be sure about, I thought. I just wanted coffee.
"How about a Celebration?"
"What???"
He pointed to some lotto tickets.
Oh.
"No thanks - just coffee."
I couldn't wait to get out of there. Jeeze, what's wrong with everybody today?

Even the girl at Tim Horton's where I get hubby's coffee looked asleep on her feet and she charged me the wrong price! (I know, I know - what on earth am I doing going to 2 different places to buy coffee when we have a perfectly good (and relatively new) coffeemaker at home.)
I guess we get quirky in our old age (or indulgent).

Rounding the bend of the Tim Horton's building, a service man with a drill in his hand leered up at me out of the dense fog. What the heck? Who was this guy and what was he doing?
Probably exactly what he was being paid for - fixing something. But he looked ghostly, like some weirdo out of a movie. I certainly hope not - he had a lethal drill in his hand.

Strange fog. Strange day.
Boy, was I glad to get home.