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Those Gloomy Days Of Winter

By Tony Payne

Oh how I dread those long dark dreary days of winter.

I admit that Winter has to be my least favourite season of the year.

I much prefer the Summer time, being able to wear a tank top and shorts, and to go outside barefoot. I love being able to take long walks in the countryside and to go to the beach. But Winter - no thanks!

The Winter season can be pretty of course, especially when the trees have a covering of snow, and everything is glistening with frost, but along with the beauty comes those long gloomy days that just seem to go on forever.

In England the Winter days are quite short, the temperatures hover around freezing, but it's a damp cold with grey skies and a wind that can chill you to the bone if you are out in it for long enough. It's dark when I get up in the morning, barely light when I get to work, and then dark by the time I leave to go home.

When I lived in Indiana, someone once asked me why English people are so miserable. Before I could think of anything to say, someone else chirped up with "well if you hadn't seen the sun in over a week...", and it really made me think.

Winters in Northern Indiana can get bitterly cold, and you are guaranteed plenty of snow, however you do get a lot of days with clear blue skies, and not only does the sunshine feel really warm when you are behind glass, it really brightens things up and makes the day seem a lot cheerier.

So what this person said really made a lot of sense to me, and memories of this came flooding back in the last two weeks, when England has had freezing temperatures, and far more than the normal levels of ice and snow. At the same time, we have had day after day where it's been practically dark all day, not really misty, but very overcast, and the sun hasn't had a chance to get out and shine at all.

Fortunately today the skies are a bit brighter, and I had the feeling this morning on the way to work that it was a bit brighter outside. We are now fortunately a month past the shortest day of the year, and well on our way to the arrival of Springtime. It's time to get outside again and to look for the first snowdrops or crocuses bursting through the recently frozen soil, and in no time at all it will be March and the daffodils will be in bloom throughout the country.

I'm with you. I am no big fan of winter. When I see the trees covered with snow like a calendar or postcard all I can think of is lots of shoveling and dangerous driving conditions. I like the Spring. The days are getting longer and the temperatures warmer!

I don't miss ths shovelling I must admit, but I do miss the pretty snow covered landscapes. Our garage in Indiana was about 50 feet back from the house and opened into an alley at the back. Since I don't like to walk on the snow, I like to shovel it first so it doesn't get compacted, I used to keep one snow shovel outside the front door, and another inside the garage. That way, I never had to walk on the snow to get to a shovel.

Ah, winter. I live in Vancouver, where the winter weather is not that different from England's. That is, plenty of rain -- although this year, it is milder than usual. I do not mind winter here. I rather like it. I know that a lot of people suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). That makes this miserable for them, but happily I do not have the condition. Your post brought back memories of the two winter weeks I spent in Cornwall and London a few years back --

This year in England the winter has been unusually cold and we have had levels of snow that you would more typically associate with Siberia or the Midwestern USA.

It's the cold and damp that get to me, whereas the bitter chill in the Midwest never felt quite so bad, since I rarely had to be outside in it for long periods of time, and it was a dry cold, with sunny skies.

I am originally from upstate NY so I grew up in snow for the winters. The sun off the snow was so bright sometimes it hurt my eyes.

I now live just below Ken in Western Washington State and the rain drives me crazy. It makes it really hard moving equipment in and out of houses AND keeping water off the floors.

I do suffer from SAD and I just try to keep busy helping my wife sell her used books on eBay. It is something we do together and makes the day go by a little faster.

biblefreeorg Jan 19, 2010 12:02

Good Intel Tony. I thought (well hoped I suppose) that we might have seen the last of the snow in the UK, but according to the forecasts more is on its way unfortunately. It might just miss where I live in the North West though.

I hope you don't get too much more snow up north. Here on the south coast with luck we won't get any more.

Unless you're a ski buff, winter is hard on a lot of us. At least in the U.S., there's the football playoffs to help pass the time.
Thanks for the intel.
Jim

It was fun a couple of years ago watching Green bay (?) play in a blizzard.

Great intel, Tony and your talk of flowers makes me forget, for a moment,that it's snowing outside. SPRING is on the way!
Thanks for sharing.
Think Spring.
Frederick

Spring is indeed on the way. England looks wonderful with the Spring flowers in bloom. It lets you know that Old Man Winter has finally gone - unless we get a late blast of course - but they never last long.

Just to tide me over our dark wintry days, Following medical advice, I bought a SAD light box.
The general idea is you sit by this light box and expose your face to its special kind of light. You can get them in Boots and other places on the Internet.
I believe it works for me. Might be worth a try.

That's an interesting concept. Ought to go down well in the arctic/antarctic regions, where you don't see the sun for six months at a time. Will look this up, thanks.

Commiserations from the Philippines. But hey, look on the bright side. At least you don't have the cockroaches, the dengue fever (both of my sons just got it and we just spent three days in the hospital), and the dilapidated infrastructure of a banana republic to deal with.

Sunshine is great, but it tends to be found in places that detract from its worth.

You have a point there Nick! I dreaded the cockroaches in Florida, and there really isn't much you can do about beasties in the tropics, except to try and keep the house really clean. The merest trace of anything sugary and they are everywhere...

Great Intel, great description of winter in the UK, all doom and gloom then about the second week in January things start getting better so accurate.

It was frosty here this morning though, I had to scrape the windows on the car, and thick fog too. Actually it's still misty now at 4pm, the fog never completely cleared to allow the sun to get a look in.

I agree, I can't stand the winter! I like the way it looks after it snows, but the cold temperatures I can't handle. I supposed winters in the US do have sun, even when there's snow on the ground, so things could be worse!

TheGreenerMe Jan 21, 2010 15:56

I agree that gloomy skies cause me to be grumpy. I moved to eastern Tennessee from San Antonio and even though the extreme heat made me miserable, days and days with no sunshine are worse. In the winter, it's a struggle to stay awake past 8:00pm, even though I have indoor lights turned on. Sunshine and blue skies for me!

burntchestnut Jan 24, 2010 10:38

I have on my wall a giant poster of a South Sea island at sunset. The thermostat is turned way up and I have two humidifiers going at full swing. I'm wearing bermuda shorts. It's always summer in my den. Now if you'll excuse me I'll have pineapple juice with a little paper umbrella in it.

Sounds like a great idea. Nothing like trying to emulate the heat of the summer. Of course if you make the place too humid, it might remind you of how sticky summer can be, and then winter isn't always so bad.

I have a photograph of a coconut by the waters edge that always reminds me of the beach. I used part of it for the banner on my Zazzle page http://www.zazzle.com/poddys

Hi Tony, I realize that you wrote this intel in the winter. Well, it's springtime now! The tulips, lilacs and many other spring flowers are blooming in our flower beds and Okanagan sunflowers are blooming all over the hills and mountains. It is fantastically beautiful and well worth putting up with the winter here. I wrote a Squidoo lens about the wildflowers of Ireland just recently. Hope you have a look and let me know if these are the flowers you see on your walks in England. Please say "Hi" to Deb for me.

I will definitely take a look at your lens. We went to Cornwall in April (on honeymoon) and the fields were filled with Daffodils, it was very pretty. I have been posting photographs from our trip over at Associated Content.

Sure, if you go to my page on Associated Content, there are a number of slideshows of Cornwall, the wedding, spring flowers and lots of others too from England.

I had a look at your Associated Content pages. You have some beautiful photos of Cornwall there!!
Best Wishes,
Laraine

Thanks. I think the time is coming when I need to write about our week in Cornwall, and link to all the slideshows.
We arrived late on the Friday, and so far I have got to Sunday morning and close to a dozen slideshows! We took over 900 photographs in a week, but there was so much wonderful scenery to snap away at.

You sound like my hubby, Will. He fills memory stiks so fast that he's the main supporter of WallMart, I believe.

Will you be posting them on Squidoo or here? On Squidoo you can use the Photo Gallery Module.

Right now I have been posting them to Associated Content, but I think I might create an article here, plus a lens with a few photos and links to the slideshows on Associated Content.

There is so much to write about on Cornwall.

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