no thanks on the snow, I'll have some sunshine please

I woke up this morning and saw snow and thought some very mad words to myself, I was not looking for a snow day and mainly I was wondering how bad it was outside. You can only imagine my delight when I went to have a post workout shower before work and discovered I had no running water, the pipes had frozen solid and I thought yay, yet another reason to love snow ( in case it wasn't obvious, even my inner monologue is sarcastic).

If you're fretting about the plight of an unwashed Laura then let me reassure you by confirming I have running water once again and you really don't realise how much water you use until you have to use bottles for everything.

I haven't always been anti snow, in fact as a child I used to hope it would snow every time winter drew near and would happily build snow men and traipse around in it. In fact I didn't even start to dislike until I turned 20 and moved to Switzerland to work as an Au pair (above photo is me by one of many snowy mountains I visited at the time) . I will admit however that Ireland doesn't get a lot of snow so perhaps it was lack of exposure to it that made it so novel for me. However if exposure to snow was what I was after then I certainly chose the ideal destination for working abroad, Switzerland sure loves its snow. I was there just under a year and I think we had at least two solid months of it( its hard to be sure as it was 10 years ago, eeek that makes me feel old) and at first it was great and I couldn't get enough of it. Loving the way it painted the city white and glossed over all the ugliness giving everything a pristine clean look. In case you're thinking I did a lot of skiing while over there well then you would be wrong, there are no real guidelines for what you can pay your au pair so most families go with allowing you to live in and giving you as little money as possible. So skiing was not an option, nor did I have any proper snow gear but that didn't stop me going up the mountains with friends and sleighing. In case you wondering sleighing in jeans is a terrible terrible idea. you tend to forget that snow turns to water until you're knee deep in it and knee deep in wet, cold denim is not a pleasant experience. Maybe If I'd had proper snow gear Id have liked it more but it didn't take long before I grew tired of the biting cold as I waited for the bus and everything I wore getting soaked in snow and just the winter that felt like it was never going to end. Fortunately it did and the reason I left Switzerland is a whole other story.

Then two years ago I moved to Edinburgh, it was supposed to be semi permanent if not a permanent move ( in fact the girls I moved over with still live there) but Somehow I was convinced that I should move home, possibly not my smartest choice but such is life. Anyway, I moved over in September and it was lovely and good until about late November when Winter kicked in and I came face to face with my old nemesis, snow.
By now I had already established that I was not a fan of snow no matter how fluffy it looked upon the ground and it did not endear me to it when my morning commute ( which was already an hour on two different buses) got longer because the bad weather meant that the bus couldn't go down our road) and I had to walk 20 minutes in ankle deep snow just to get to the next bus stop in either waterproof shoes with no grip ( and arrive to work with a very bruised bum) or my very grippy boots that absorbed water making me arrive at work more pissed off than necessary. I was all prepared to grit my teeth and and wait out the snow and then one day in early December we were all sent home as the roads had become so icy that all the buses had stopped running. The only way home was to walk and the only route I knew back there was the bus route and the only shoes I had with me were the grippy boots that would have made wonderful sponges so needless to say I was about 5 minutes out of work when my boots were soaked through and my socks had started to make squishy noises with every step. I had to walk ridiculously slow as the footpaths were covered with snow and icy patches and id already fallen on my bum enough for one winter. It was without question the most miserable walk Ive ever been on ( besides that time in first year of college where I stupidly agreed to do 13 mile charity walk in rain and winds so strong there was a small craft warning ) and it took me over three hours to get home. I think this once and for all soured my out look on Edinburgh as a city and did not bring me any closer to loving snow. I think the final straw for me is when days before Christmas I was due to move home and out of my apartment all in one day and my flight got cancelled because of bad weather, everyone I knew in Edinburgh had already made it home on earlier flights and I came pretty close to being stranded over Christmas without anywhere to stay.

So that is why I felt nothing but annoyance when I made my way slowly to work with great trepidation trying not to fall on my ass but coming very close and kind of hoping this is the last bit of snow i'll be seeing for a while


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The darker side of romance

Image
  For some reason I felt compelled to write about a corner of my past that hasn't been part of my blog before. a heads up to anyone who might be upset by this topic I will be delving into emotional abuse so feel free to stop reading now if you don't feel able to carry on. When I was in my late 20's I met a guy on a night out. He was a few years younger than me and honestly looking back threw up a couple of red flags early but I didn't trust my own intuition plus I was only a few months away from finishing college and planned to move to Edinburgh in a few months so it wasn't like it was going to be anything more than a brief fling. However as time went on I became more infatuated with him, there was an intensity there and he seemed sweet but damaged. Like a perfect modern fairytale I thought I would be the one to fix him. somehow plans changed and he was going to follow me over to Edinburgh, get a job there and we were going to live happily ever after. at this point
Read more

Help, I think I'm autistic

Image
 So I, at the age of 41, have come to the realization that I am autistic.  Growing up I always had a feeling something about me was a little bit off. I never quite fit in and I wasn't sure why. It was like everyone had been given a book of rules of how to exist in society but no one had thought to hand me a copy. Looking back with hindsight the signs were there. I was a super sensitive kid, a sensitivity I have not lost in adulthood, I cried very easily and felt every emotion very deeply. I was a picky eater and very particular about the textures of different food. I was very sensitive to light and noise and the feel of different fabrics. I was never a hugger. all of these things are as true about me now as they were when I was younger. I am socially awkward, I don't make friends that easily and will joke I am an acquired taste. Eye contact is something I have to actively work on and small talk feels like torture.  I thrive on alone time, I am incredibly sensitive to the moods
Read more

Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out ..

Image
I have been told on more than one occasion that I'm sarcastic. Often that I'm too sarcastic (as though there could be such a thing) and I have retort up my sleeve for such occasions which is if you think I'm sarcastic you should meet my mother. No, really you should because my sarcasm is but a pale imitation of hers. Every so often though I come out without something that makes my friends or other family members pause because sometimes when I open my mouth, my mother comes out.  It's funny how people always take the words you are turning into your mother as such an insult because the reality of the matter is it's a both a good and bad thing. Obviously there are certain qualities I am perfectly happy to emulate and others not so much and on the whole I am not entirely sure how much control I have over it. It's not quite a pick and mix counter here. I think there are some habits you are not even aware you have picked up until someone else kindly points it out.
Read more