I Love the Winter Weather/Apocolypse

From Halloween weekend (when daylight savings started) until about a couple of weeks ago, I was really struggling with the whole dark and rainy thing here in Edinburgh. I knew this far north would make for some too dark too quick days but no kind of preparation can make up for sunsets at 3:30pm and rain and drizzle day after day. My disposition isn't tolerant of such routines. I did find some useful ways to cope though including staring into our super bright and nearly painfully hot space heater from The Pound Stretcher. Some days I like to turn it on to its highest setting, light a stick of incense and practice a few asanas while fantasizing that our cold basement flat is really a Bikram Yoga studio. It works pretty effectively on some down days, I have to say.

Matt has contributed some helpful ideas as well to keep my spirits warm. You may think this is silly but when your boiler breaks and there is little to keep you warm besides a cup of tea and a comforter until the plumber shows up, then I recommended playing this youtube video on replay.

Sure it is pretty ridiculous but it can make things seem comforting and cozy when things get desperate. One of those "don't knock it until you've tried it" (in the right conditions of course) things I guess.

That said, it was a bleak season for me until the snow dumped down on us Thanksgiving weekend. It started out mildly with just a few festive flurries one evening and then loads came down like a good and proper snowfall. All of the sudden the muddy earth of Holyrood Park became sledding conditions and everything seemed clean and cheery on the streets. Hoorah! Finally some nice winter weather to enjoy. "Why this is not bad at all." I thought. "This is just what this town needed and in time for Christmas! What luck!"

KG's Cafe's snowman across the street from our flat.

Matt tries on his new wellies. He is known to enjoy jumping in puddles these days just to prove the point that wellies make his feet invincible.

St Mary's Cathedral, on the street over from us, in its winter splendor loveliness.

Well, like many things here, what at first begins charming and picturesque can actually turn out to be a major inconvenience. I noticed things were amiss when there didn't seem to be any machines plowing the roads and leaving a trail of salt behind. In lieu of plows came men in bright yellow reflector coats and wellies throwing red "grit" out on the sidewalks. They knew what was coming as it didn't take long for the billowy, perfect for snowball making flakes to pack into the sidewalk, car parks and roads to become uneven ice rinks bringing the city to a standstill.

Work at the hotel proved to be one crisis after another last week and into this week. The laundry truck is stuck - no fresh linens. The head housekeeper's bus won't go out to South Queensferry - you are on your own today with the other non-English speaking Polish room attendant. None of the guests can leave on their train/plane/bus because the station/airport/etc is closed - that means more rooms to clean than expected. And on and on and on.

The crisis continued when I got home. The wee fridge started to look bare so Matt and I headed to the grocery shop across the street for some vittels. It looked like the apocolypse inside with nothing but half a messed up looking onion and a mushy apple in the produce section, no bread, little milk and only a few strands of pasta and the like on the dry foods isle. It got a bit scarey when they brought out a meager supply of fresh rolls right when Matt and I were about to leave. There was a shameless rush of people to the poor clerk. Somehow we made out with 50P worth of bread to make grilled cheese and tomato (bought before the storm) sandwiches. At work the next day, some employees commented on the how the store clerks rationed all customers to only 1 pint of milk and 1 loaf of bread at the checkout counter when they went to their store.

We are still in the aftermath of it all. It is indeed the icey stage of things here and I am in desperate need of some good wellies. Problem is, everyone is sold out of course on the street and who knows when a parcel would be delivered from Royal Mail in these conditions. That said, I can't help but enjoy taking in the mild absurdity of it all as I walk to and from work and watch child minders leaving behind the buggys and dragging 3 year old kids along Dean Bridge's walkway in a plastic sled. Or seeing pensioners walking along the street with a ski pole to prevent mishaps. Or observing all the elaborate footware contraptions for helping pedestrains cope with the conditions like chains on their wellies (indeed like the ones people put on their car when driving up to the ski slopes). There are many moments where I can't help but think of this Scandinavian flick Matt and I watched last year in the heat of an Austin, Texas winter.

Final verdict? I Love the Winter Weather here in Edinburgh. It is mighty inconvenient but hey - so is trying to live in a different country!

PS A warm, hearty thanks to my mum who brought me her mondo-80s Patagonia parka when she came out for a visit. I get some head turns in that purple/flourescent hooded wonder but I feel like a machine in that thing. Nothing gets through that coat, not even the wet Edinburgh chill. Indeed, in order to love the winter weather here in Scotland, you really do need a coat that means business.