If you are an Ottawan, there’s a good chance you have adapted to the inevitability of winter by taking up sports or activities – either the kind that take advantage of the season and its snowy offerings, or those found in the climate-controlled comfort of an indoor gym or pool. If you don’t have access to a car, most neighbourhoods are fortunate enough to have local outdoor skating rinks or a recreation centre, and of course there is the World’s Largest Skating Rink which bisects the inner part of the city, and is very accessible by public transportation. However, if you are a cross-country skier, you may experience urban claustrophobia unless you are able to bribe a friend into letting you stow away in their car to the trails. But there is a third way -- and believe it or not, it's the bus! Ottawa is blessed with three publicly-accessible cross-country ski trail networks within 15km from downtown: Stony Swamp, Mooney’s Bay, and the unparalleled Gatineau Park. As I have recently discovered, each can be accessed relatively effortlessly via public transit. And for those that are skeptical of taking ski equipment on the bus, it may be a relief to know that cross-country skis are usually very light, and with a few ties or a ski bag, can be easily transportable. Just bring a small backpack with your boots, water, snack, and a change of shirt (so you don’t get cold on the ride home). Some backpacks even have straps on the site to hold skis and poles.

As an apartment dweller living in close quarters, sometimes I appreciate open or unused spaces simply for the fact that they are not built upon. But in other cases, I lament upon what seems like wasted space around an office or apartment building, or even an extra-deep front yard. Perhaps it is the fact that I have no yard of my own that makes me yearn to make use of some underused land for my own personal garden. At least one other Ottawan feels similarly. Urban farmer Jesse Boynton Payne has started a new type of Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) initiative that partners with homeowners to use their yards to grow organic vegetables and fruit. Instead of looking out at a yard that you have to mow, or planting a garden that you really don’t have time to weed, you can partner with Jesse's service --The Vegetable Patch -- and he will cultivate your yard for you. Similar services exist in many U.S cities; closer to home another variation is Toronto's Young Urban Farmers. In payment for use of your land, you get periodic vegetable baskets throughout the growing season, from both your own and other gardens around the city. It's this "in-kind" payment of free produce that makes Jesse's service different from traditional CSA models, where the customer buys a share in the harvest before the season starts. But like a traditional CSA,  Jesse's customers are aware of what he intends to plant early in the year, and the actual produce that is delivered depends on the season and the success of the crop. The users of the service are participating in the risk of agriculture; if there is a bad weather season, or a pest infestation of a certain crop, the harvest – and the food box – suffer. Equally, in a good year, there is extra for all.

Perhaps you have noticed that you now have to beat the clock when crossing at some intersections around Ottawa. These are countdown timers, and they are starting to crop up at intersections throughout the city. Often counting down from the number 10, they can have the connotation of a NASA launch or a MacGyver-style bomb defusing, at least for some users who appear to be a little anxious the first time they encounter the new signals. The signals consist of a digital display showing the number of seconds left to cross the street, and accompany the familiar “flashing orange hand” that is supposed to mean not to start crossing or to finish crossing if you have already started to do so. Although already in widespread use in many other cities, including on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, pedestrian countdown timers are new to Ottawa, with the first only appearing in 2009. According to the City of Ottawa, these devices will be installed progressively over the next 10 years starting with priority locations, such as near schools and seniors homes, wide and busy streets, and during street reconstruction projects.