Chat Room Lover Loses Fingers and Toes

Monday

It was sunny this morning and I mistakenly thought that Spring had arrived. The weather forcasters have been promising a day of sunshine and marginally warmer temperatures. No such luck. It clouded over and I had to break the ice on the pond.

It's all relative of course. In Manitoba the current temperature is around -15.10°C and there's a massive high of -9°C promised. I'll settle for Bogsville's 4°C for the moment. It's hard to imagine what -15.10°C feels like.

Did you read about Charles Gonsoulin from L.A. who fell in love with a Quebec woman in an internet chat room for depressed people?

The 41-year-old self-employed mechanic has a conviction for robbing a Pizza Hut back in 1984 which meant he couldn't legally enter Canada. The woman couldn't afford to visit L.A. so he decided to visit her, setting off from Pembina in North Dakota to walk across the border to Winnipeg.

While he was walking temperatures in the area reached a high of - 10 C and a low of - 30°C. He got lost and was rescued by an RCMP officer on Feb. 23 after spending 100 hours in sub zero temperatures. He had only walked 7 kilometres.

He will be deported -- minus all his fingers and some of his toes. Cpl. Don McKenna of the Emerson RCMP told the Winnipeg Free Press that he knew something was wrong when he came across a pair of gloves and a couple of duffel bags as he followed Gonsoulin's tracks in the snow. He said "Gonsoulin's hands were black and frozen solid. He didn't know who he was or where he was."

It sure can be a cruel world out there and a lot of guys do some pretty stupid things when they are in love.....