Manual Transmissions

After having a drive to think about it, I think the best route if a manual transmission car is added to the mix, is for me to have the manual. It's not a comment on your driving skills, it's just the season we're in. If it were the spring, I think it'd be great to have 6-8 months for learning stick shift before the roads got slick. But we're looking at the possibility of having to learn on the hardest surface possible for driving a manual transmission. Thoughts?