Look Out, Here Comes December!
There are, to be sure, lovely things about December. The assurance that one will hear countless renditions of Handel's Messiah not the least among them. A lot of our neighbours have already lit up the exteriors of their homes with coloured lights and that can be cheerful at this time of year.
December brings us that much closer to the actual season of ... wait for it ... Winter (eek). Only three more weeks to the formal acknowledgement that winter has descended upon us. The winter equinox, the shortest day of the year. After that, don't you know, the days begin lengthening, as the earth moves inexorably on its axis, bringing us ever closer, agonizingly slowly, to be sure, but closer nonetheless, to spring.
Ah, spring. But winter - it's all right. Got to live with, so might as well live with it, right? Which means accepting its presence. Which translates to making the most of it, whatever it offers; the good and the bad. The kids make snowmen at the first snowfall, they slide and glide. Get out the old toboggan, the snowshoes, the skis, the skates.
All right, this is Friday, the first day of December, 2006. About seven this morning the snow began to flutter down from the skies. And on it came, sometimes in nice large flaky clumps, sometimes in single, tentative drizzles, but down it came. Expected, after all. But we had hardly four cm fallen lazily down over everything, when it turned to - well, let's see: first icy pebbles, then freezing rain.
Did I forget the wind? Lots of that, too. Filthy weather, that. If it's a prelude to true winter we have been pining for, we now have it. Take your pick; fluffy snow, ice pebbles, freezing rain, pelting ice - all hurled by high winds, furiously lashing faces, windows, roadways, trees. It gets to be pretty heavy stuff after awhile. Weighing down limbs of trees, eventually breaking off boughs.
Of course whole trees fall too. And when they do, they often fall into hydro lines and guess what happens then? And then there's the matter of the roads; slushy at first, then icy-slick, and you're really sorry you didn't invest in ice tires when you had the chance, damn! Lots of fender-benders, plenty of vehicles just slithering into rural ditches.
The misery of your furnace not coming on because you've lost electricity. Hang in there, hydro crews are out working frenziedly to get you back on line. On line; oops, you're teleworking, and can't get your computer up. Lost day, lost pay.
Hail winter!
December brings us that much closer to the actual season of ... wait for it ... Winter (eek). Only three more weeks to the formal acknowledgement that winter has descended upon us. The winter equinox, the shortest day of the year. After that, don't you know, the days begin lengthening, as the earth moves inexorably on its axis, bringing us ever closer, agonizingly slowly, to be sure, but closer nonetheless, to spring.
Ah, spring. But winter - it's all right. Got to live with, so might as well live with it, right? Which means accepting its presence. Which translates to making the most of it, whatever it offers; the good and the bad. The kids make snowmen at the first snowfall, they slide and glide. Get out the old toboggan, the snowshoes, the skis, the skates.
All right, this is Friday, the first day of December, 2006. About seven this morning the snow began to flutter down from the skies. And on it came, sometimes in nice large flaky clumps, sometimes in single, tentative drizzles, but down it came. Expected, after all. But we had hardly four cm fallen lazily down over everything, when it turned to - well, let's see: first icy pebbles, then freezing rain.
Did I forget the wind? Lots of that, too. Filthy weather, that. If it's a prelude to true winter we have been pining for, we now have it. Take your pick; fluffy snow, ice pebbles, freezing rain, pelting ice - all hurled by high winds, furiously lashing faces, windows, roadways, trees. It gets to be pretty heavy stuff after awhile. Weighing down limbs of trees, eventually breaking off boughs.
Of course whole trees fall too. And when they do, they often fall into hydro lines and guess what happens then? And then there's the matter of the roads; slushy at first, then icy-slick, and you're really sorry you didn't invest in ice tires when you had the chance, damn! Lots of fender-benders, plenty of vehicles just slithering into rural ditches.
The misery of your furnace not coming on because you've lost electricity. Hang in there, hydro crews are out working frenziedly to get you back on line. On line; oops, you're teleworking, and can't get your computer up. Lost day, lost pay.
Hail winter!
posted by Pieface @ 6:00 PM
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