In this freezing wind, all my batteries begin to pack up at the same time. I have got one of those magical jump-start battery packs which is the same size as a mobile phone. I charged that yesterday just in case the car is correct about the dire warnings of battery voltage levels it has been giving me on the dashboard.
H.I. hates the cold. If we are watching a Scandi-thriller set in a desolate and wind-swept Winter fishing village where everyone seems to be alcoholic, I suggest we move there to retire. It always raises a laugh.
I tried explaining to her that extreme cold does not feel as bad as minus-5 with wind-factor does here. She visibly flinches when I tell her about the time I spent in minus-40 Canada (I bring it up with her even more than I do here), but I put her mind at rest by saying that it is not as bad as it sounds. Sometimes you have to wait for your toes to fall off before you understand why they all wear fur-lined boots. That is why it is so dangerous.
I have stood outside on a dark Canadian night and watched my breath fall to the snow on the ground like sparkling fairy dust in the lamplight. That is the reason it does not feel so bad. Unlike the permanently damp atmosphere of Britain, there is no water in the wind.
There was a film I loved when a kid called, 'The Glass Mountain'. A couple of men in 1930s primitive mountaineering kit - wooden picks and tweed jackets, etc. - slowly ascend a vertiginous, snow and ice-covered side of a high peak, all the while being watched through a telescope and binoculars by some people in what seems to be cosy wooden chalet with great views of the Alps. I can still hear the bleak chords of the incidental and theme music now, but I have not yet found it on YouTube.
I imagined being in that chalet with its crackling log fire and three months supply of food and drink (it would have to be alcoholic these days), gazing up at two dark dots painfully ascending inch by inch, casually wondering if they would survive the very real possibility of an avalanche and make it back to base.
Like the detective story set in the frozen far-North fishing village, it was an unworthy form of perverse schadenfreude. H.I. gains no gratuitous pleasure from these fantasies. They leave her cold.
When I repeat myself, I imagine all of you sitting at my feet after a good dinner, pleading, "Oh please tell us that story again Uncle Thomas! Dotty won't remember it anyway - she was only 3 the last time!"
ReplyDeleteI rather like this snowy weather so appreciate your story and the beautiful image of the snowy covered mountains ..... plus, it makes Spring an even more wonderful season when it comes. Hope you, H.I. and your family are coping OK with everything ? Have you both had your jabs yet ? XXXX
ReplyDeleteThank you, we are fine.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NH5ufmSvdU
ReplyDeleteThanks for the music Willie, all I need now is the film.
DeleteWhat was the post about, what story? I thought you were going to tell us when you nearly froze cutting ice in Canada for Blue Peter.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one.
DeleteIf you like dramas set in miserable fishing villages... Have you ever seen Mark Jenkins' "Bait"?
ReplyDeleteI only realized the other week that car keys have batteries in them. One was almost flat so I replaced them in all three keys. I now make a point of taking two car keys whenever I go out in the car!
How did you think the central locking worked? Maybe it would be best to leave one set at home. You don't want to lose both at once.
DeleteI guess one could always just keep a spare battery in the glove box. I always thought car keys used the piezoelectric effect to generate a momentary current.
DeleteNow you've got me.
DeleteYou are so right when you say the dampness in the Winter air causes a deep chill. This damp cold, (unlike the dry cold) seems to enter the body and take over. Only by sitting next to a good blazing fire with a hot cup of tea can you recover. Has HI experienced the dry cold?
ReplyDeleteNo, but she has experienced wet heat - in Texas.
DeleteIt's called Texas humidity. Then there is the dry heat in Arizona. Pick your poison...
DeleteI’ve lit the fire and the convection heater is banging out hot air and it’s still chilly
ReplyDeleteEasterly beasterly.
DeleteSnowing as I write Tom. I want Spring to come overnight - am fed up with cold.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to make the best of it Weave. I want more snow really.
DeleteI live 32 miles direct North from Weave. If you want some snow, you can have some of ours. -9.5 this morning on the way to do the shopping.
DeleteYou got off lightly last year didn't you?
DeleteI don't believe in wet cold and dry cold. And don't compare me to No. 45 and his ilk. He does have a lot of ilk.
ReplyDeleteHis ilk have come out of the woodwork.
DeleteIt is currently -9 degrees C (feels likes -13) here in Midwestern Ontario. It is colder out west right now. Sometimes the sun shines. There's your Canadian forecast. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteIt was -10 in Toronto when I came down from Quebec. It felt really warm.
Deletelayered clothes to keep out the cold, a log fire and the heating on of course!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have central heating. Now when I am in someone else's house (when I am allowed) it is too hot for me. Everyone has gone soft.
DeleteWe may be soft but by God we are warm!
DeleteIn the last few days I have been envious.
DeleteI was never once cold when I visited Iceland, but can be really cold when I'm here at home with 3 jumpers, a blanket, a hotwater bottle and the heating on....it is as if my blood just doesn't warm up.
ReplyDeleteNo central heating at yours eh? thick walls and lots of cuddles then?
6 inch thick, stone walls with no cavity. Cuddles on tap.
Delete