What's good about the cold?

What is it about snow and the cold weather that seem to bring out the best in most Canadians?  On any given cold day people are nicer.  People are even nicer with a big snow storm.  It usually starts out very slow in the morning, it's like a community surveillance of the neighborhood.  People are brushing their cars off, some are shoveling the sidewalks and driveways and others are hanging around to offer their help.  

Oh We will complain about the weather.  It's a long list of complaints and repetitive lines about the cold but once that snow hits, the goodness comes out all over again.

Secretly, some love the cold weather but will say things others have mentioned.  We all have heard them before and we usually nod or just keep trotting along in the good squish of the snow under our boots.Squish squish squish.  

I recently saw a co-worker giving someone who works on the street a large hot chocolate to warm his body.  It was a very nice thing I had witnessed and I needed to investigate some more.  After asking my co-worker a few questions I found out she did this once or twice a week and while she was away on vacation another co-worker was doing the same thing, since he was trying to keep up the good deed.

We recently had an ice storm in Toronto and believe me it was miserable conditions.  The smiles came out again but i realize the smiles were different his time.  It was hard to understand, the smile and politeness from my neighbors were confusing.  The cold weather people can live with, being taken out of their comfort zone people weren't prepared to do and it annoyed many.  No power, no heat, no TV or internet was a bit too much.