Weather
Just like the picture of our deceptively cute dog, whose looks disguise an occasionally evil nature, t
he world outside looks lovely from in here, but appearances can deceive. It’s what Icelanders call ‘window weather.’
It’s nice for twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours, but the bitter weather that’s mantled much of Northern Europe for almost ten days is starting to become a pain. Yesterday the temperature climbed above freezing for only the second day in the last eight or nine days. Which should be good, except that it’s not going to last, but instead will snap cold again.
The problem is that the ground is so treacherous –despite salt and grit on the roads, though not the pavements– that it’s making any kind of going out extremely problematic. I fell last winter in a frozen field and had problems with my back for weeks, long after my bruised wrists had healed. And it’s made me reluctant to repeat the experience.
I’m not the only one who feels like this. Several of my classmates didn’t make it into lectures last week. Given that some of them face two, even three hour journeys with the possibility of the campus being closed when they get there, I don’t blame them at all. But several of them –like me– are starting to get cabin fever after so long being cooped up, creating a Hobson’s Choice between stir craziness and accidents outside.
What makes it so tricky is that yesterday, as the temperature climbs, so rain falls, as was the case yesterday. But as the skies clear it freezes overnight, as it did last night. So walking Alice today is going to be especially tricky. But it needs to be done — I have the usual early Monday morning start, and she can’t be left alone for six hours without being walked; it gives her a chance to perform her ablutions. And according to the forecast, it’s not going to be any better tomorrow…
So that’s the weather around here. How is with you, wherever you are?
