Winter
Today is the first day upon which snow has fallen. I know I rail against the winter, but it’s not the winter as such, it’s more my lack of dealing it. I mean I prefer the cold to the heat, because you can always make yourself warmer, but it’s just that it gets to me. It’s like a bad relationship: it’s a tolerance - good points among the misery, mundane yet familiar enough to cope with. Winter is like a bad job that pays well.
Well, today there’s money in the bank, because when I was holding my five year old daughter up to the window, I could see the reflection of excitement and wonder of her beautiful face superimposed on the blanket of snow across the gardens out the back of my house.
I kissed her goodbye and pulled on boots instead of shoes, grabbed a hat and left the house feeling good. And were there birds I’m certain they would have been singing our names.
I put on Hugh Masekela, because South African jazz is hilarious in the snow, got my bus, sat down and wrote this.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:41 am
I have mixed feelings about winter. I could do without the lack of daylight and the icy roads, but there’s nothing quite like looking out of the window on a snowy morning. Although I think my kids are doing okay childhood-wise, I’m sad they’re missing out on what I had growing up in the north of Scotland - sledging, snowball fights, making angels in the snow, and “little mannies”. I’m probably not the kind of bird you meant, but I’m singing your names in honour of this post
.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I love winter. As long as I don’t have to drive in it!
January 24th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Oh, and your thoughts on seeing your youngun loving it are nice too. That would keep any good man warm through a rough winter, and a few not-so-good ones too!
January 24th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Oh, and your Mondays updates are book-worthy. Find an agent.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Snow just never gets old. (Well, it does get slushy and icy and grubby and not so much fun… but that’s not what I mean.) It makes the whole winter worth it, which is why I think I’m in the wrong country. Here we get all the miserable winter stuff (cold, grey, dark, no leaves, no flowers…) spread over a ridiculously long time (compared with, oh, say, Cape Town, where winter lasts just long enough to get yourself properly dosed with hot chocolate, and hence is rather enjoyable), and hardly ever any snow to speak of. It’s, like, *totally* unfair.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Thanks Ed - awful kind of you to mention.
Sooz - “Cape Town.”
Like that?
(sorry).
It sounds like you got a good deal anyway. We never get the chocolate box Christmas scenes.
Wendy - laughing at “little mannies”. I like the way Scottish people sometimes abbreviate words by making them longer
January 25th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Who you calling Sooz?
Also, eh? I think you’re criticising my punctuation, but I don’t quite get it. Now feeling stupid and un-subworthy.
(And to be clear, “here” is London, for me, for now.)
January 25th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Bollocks!!!
Sorry Scroob.
I got you mixed up with my other reader whose handle begins with S.
I was being childish before. You said:
oh, say, Cape Town,
so I said:
“Cape Town.”
It’s a very poo(r) joke.