A winter love shack: Victoria man builds igloo for new girlfriend

It's still oneday away, but Paul Lewis has already won Valentine's Day.

On Monday night, the 47-year-old used thefresh dump of snow that fell in his Victoria backyard and turned it into an igloo for his girlfriend of two weeks.

He fashioned hissnow shack with solar-poweredlights, a fire pit, some wine and a cozy bed.

"Everybody thinks it's just brilliant," Lewis said. "I've heard some guys say, 'way to make us look bad, bud. You've totally set a whole new bar.'"

Lewis, who's a scaffolder by trade,built the iglooin about four hours, from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

His girlfriend, Julie Gervais, watched incredulously at first while sipping her wine. But she soon pitched in asthe structure started taking shape,Lewis said.

The end result? A cozy nook, nearly 1.5-metre wideand more than a metre tall inside.

The couplesqueezed in four hours of sleep their first night, using their blankets, the nearby fire and their body heat to keep warm.

On night two, they renovated the dome,adding a rug, wine rack and glass holders.

The romantic gesture won'tlast long. The weather is expected to creep abovethe freezing mark Thursday.

"We'll keep it as long as we can," Lewis said."The last one I made, it came down on top of me. That hurt," he laughed.