Do you feel the cold? I am INFUSED with it...

        Now I'm back in the Northern hemisphere, I realise anew, no matter how hard I try, I hate the cold. I have tried really hard to be objective, to ignore the temperature, the damp, the wet, the biting wind, and the dark days. For goodness sakes, how much daylight do we actually get here? I reckon, most days, its less than four hours. How's that going to work for those susceptible to SAD, the lack of sun in their lives. Not good I fear, not good at all. Will I soon, or am I already surrounded by morose people who don't want to communicate, or smile. 

       You know, I do try to get on with it and not complain. It's really not extreme, this winter temperature. I should be able to cope, and be glad it's not colder, not harsher,  because it could be. Inf act, in the next few mipoths, it's almost certainly going to be. Every day, when the pale light filters through the windows, I wonder how I got here. In the land of the everlasting dark, or rather....gloom. Some days, the curtains are open for a brief period only. There seems little point, as so little light comes in, you still need the light on. In the middle off the day....go figure that, if you can.

         I fantasize about the sun, that scorching ball I used to see overhead nearly every day. I try not to think how long it will be before I feel its heat again. Before I luxuriate in the warmth, as it gently bronzes my limbs, giving me that healthy glow I love. Ahhh! What can I say, what can I do.... Very little I am afraid. So, on goes the thick coat, or the suede one, which keeps out the wind chill. At least the bits that aren't already to doing their best to flap open, and suffer me frozen.

          Today, the wind is fierce. Its predicted to blow up now, to reach gale force, and stay until after Christmas. Lovely, I can think of nothing better. As I leave the shelter of the car, only a few hundred yards to go. Before I am at the door, over the threshold, and safe from the wind. But what's this, I'm not getting anywhere, the wind is so wild, it like a strange landscape. It tosses any bits of rubbish it can see, it howls around the buildings, and shakes the parked cars like a angry dog. I make every effort to move forward, leg muscles straining, and hair whipped straight out behind me.

           Unable to breathe, I continue forward. The wind direction at first against me, and then behind me. As it gusts, and buffets me, as hard as it did the cars. A hand catches my arm, a strong arm around my back, helping me move at all. Two togther, we persevere, until the doors are in sight. As we round the corner, the wind smacks us from every angle, but with a final blast against our chests, we fall into the door, and move through. Thank goodness my son was there.

           Inside the building, out of the might of the storm at last, all I can do, is wheeze for breath. Unable to force enough oxygen into my lungs, to be able to stand upright. Oh dear, if on my own, I might still be blowing around outside. Just another stray bit of flotsam, at the mercy of the tempest. My lungs heaving, gradually. I find enough air to move forward. Oh dear, oh dear, surely this is not going to be another year like last year. When the weather was so fierce, that I gradually became housebound.

           For now, breathing again,  I make my way to the lift, and a rest upstairs. Seems like I will have to work harder still at getting fit. A few months in a gentler climate, and already I had forgotten how wild it can be here. How unpredictable is the northern Hemisphere. How hard being anything less than a 100% fit can be. It's only December, and after Christmas comes the really severe weather. 

           Wish me luck, seems like I will need it. Nothing much I can do, except take it one day at a time.

           Let's wish for some speedy global warming, where ever that might be.... There has been little sign of it here yet.