Don't get me wrong -- I don't like -30 and snow. I mean, I'm a crazy person, but not that much of a crazy person. While I'm at it, I don't much like a one-and-a-half-month summer.
I mean, life in Germany isn't that much better. It rains 346 days per year, for which ten nice days are hardly any consolation.
As much as I like the fact that Germany is warmer than back home at any given time, the seasons here still -- after six years, mind -- have a way of messing with me. Back home, we have the seasons of: almost winter, winter, still winter and construction. At the beginning in Germany, I liked having the four distinct seasons of: rain, cold rain, warm rain and yes it's still raining, mostly because there were leaves on the trees for more than two and a half months in any given year.
You'd think that, after all this time, the weather here would become normal and expected.
But, no. Really.
Last year I came back home from a winter-break trip to Canada in the middle of March. I ran around snapping pictures of the budding trees, because after so long, I still couldn't believe it. I came back from Finland this week, marvelling at the warm weather and the fact the Germans were still running around in coats like the winter apocalypse was coming (if they only knew a real winter...).
As nice as not having to be bundled up is, though, it just feels wrong. The back of my mind is still, after all these years, saying, "Just you wait! The heavy May/June snowfall that kills all the trees is still coming."
The one thing that was nice about Finland was that it was still winter. Technically the weather was warmer than seasonal, but there was still a bucketload of snow with temperatures regularly dipping fairly below freezing. March. Winter. Cold. Snow. Right.
Germany weather. Wrong.
I should stop complaining and bring out my nice summer pumps before the rain starts again.
But it just feels wrong that spring is springing. Cold weather is in the blood of a Canadian.
It's kind of like that temperature chart that has been floating around the interwebbies since the day the interwebbies were born:
50 Fahrenheit (10 C)
New Yorkers try to turn on the heat
Canadians plant gardens
40 Fahrenheit (4.4 C)
Californians shiver uncontrollably
Canadians sunbathe
35 Fahrenheit (1.6 C)
Italian Cars won't start
Canadians drive with the windows down
32 Fahrenheit (0 C)
Distilled water freezes
Canadian water gets thicker
0 Fahrenheit (-17.9 C)
New York City landlords finally turn on the heat
Canadians have the last cookout of the season
-40 Fahrenheit (-40 C)
Hollywood disintegrates
Canadians rent some videos
-60 Fahrenheit (-51 C)
Mt. St. Helen's freezes
Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door
-100 Fahrenheit (-73 C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole
Canadians pull down their earflaps
-173 Fahrenheit (-114 C)
Ethyl alcohol freezes
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg
-459.4 Fahrenheit (-273 C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"
-500 Fahrenheit (-295 C)
Hell freezes over
The Flames win the Cup
(Yeah, it's been a slow day. But didn't you know that talking about the weather is a favoured national Canadian pastime?)
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