It might double back every now and again to spit flurries and whip us with icy weather, but slowly and surely it is going away. Next stop: Southern Hemisphere, but don't worry. It still has a long way to go.
The past week has had almost no snowfall, a day or two of drizzling rain making every venture onto a sidewalk a balancing game and, touch wood, so far I'm winning, I'm winning! (And I can't ever say that without thinking of Rowan Atkinson in Rat Race. You know. The guy who plays Mr. Bean.)
For the first time in months, I saw sunlight after half past 4 in the afternoon. I was a bit confused at first when I stepped outside of the office and saw the yellowish orange glow dimming into the blue that starts impossible light blue and changes to black without any discernible colours in between. Glanced at my watch and wondered if I left work an hour too early. Luckily not. The long nights are shrinking at about 7 minutes per day; going from less than 6 hours of daylight in December, to round about 20 hours in July.
In a couple of months, I'll have to start getting used to long days. And I can't decide whether it's going to be a good thing or a bad thing.
The people up here might be used to it, but I'm definitely not used to seeing the sun at 9 or 10 at "night". I have no problem with the sun being up before me. THAT I'm quite used to. On weekends the sun sometimes beat me up even in December over here.
If things go according to plan, I'll be in northern Sweden/Finland/Denmark in June and even see the Midnight Sun.
I am probably being optimistic and hopeful, but I (think I) can even feel the change inside me.
Not that the winter and snow and being cooped up inside made me depressed and all doom and gloomy. Not at all. In fact, I relished the excuse of not being able to go outside. Want to know how many books I read, games I played, movies/series I watched? Lucky for me I didn't keep count and I'm not going to. I might just be a bit ashamed. Well...and a little proud.
But I am yearning for a bit more...space I guess.
Even though I love lazing about, it does get boring after a while. Besides, how can I miss lazing about if I don't get out and about?
And yes, I could go out and about during the winter and snow, but why?
It got dark before I left the office until this week.
I have to look down when I walk, not because I'm shy, but because I don't want to slip on a patch of ice. The sidewalks are often quite narrow cobblestones that are extra slippery, and regardless of the fact that I don't want to embarrass myself, I really don't want to slip into the path of an oncoming car that can't break due to the icy roads. (I am happy to be one of the weird guys on the bus and not one of the stressed drivers on the road.)
On the other hand you have to keep an eye up as well, because snow or iced stalactites dropping from three storeys high can be dangerous to your health.
I know these are extreme cases, but I can't help it.
It simply isn't fun walking around in such circumstances. If it had been a thick layer of snow, that would have been fine. I'd have put on my big boots and stomped through it, but I didn't.
It still isn't that much fun. Especially not when you're travelling/touring alone.
I spent a lot of time in such snow in Canada and I have great memories of all the things I've seen, but not always such good memories of all the things that I've done.
Which is another reason, you won't find me skiing.
Tried downhill tobogganning. Went great the first few times. The last time (obviously), was "great". Picked up good speed, slid farther than ever, flew a bit through the air and crashed onto the road, wrenching my arm. Nothing serious, but my shoulder and elbow did ache for a couple of days.
Tried tobogganning behing a four wheeler. Lots of fun if you do it safely, but when the sled stops because of hitting something...anything...you don't. Hitting the snow face first wasn't something I wanted to do, ever again. Fortunately, it didn't happen again on the toboggan.
Unfortunately, it happened at a much faster speed, much colder event and included the same shoulder from the downhill jarring as a bonus.
Yes, I failed spectacularly at dog sledding. It is imperative that when you try to help push the sled along with your feet, you not trip and fly a few feet through the air into the snow. It is not as soft and cuddly a landing as you might think.
Like I've stated before. All in all, I love snow. Love watching it. Just look at that picture!
But I don't really like spending time IN it.
And that is why I can't wait for the winter to end. For the white to melt away and be replaced by glorious green. And in anticipation of greenery, I've decided to do my best to spend St Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland this year.
So that is March's getaway sorted out, but I still can't decide where to go in February.
Or rather, where to go to first. Athens, Barcelona or Budapest.
Oh well. I'll just sleep on it. Again.
Njoy.
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