Okay, deep breaths. I can still do this, right? Even if I feel like I don’t have the time. I’m one day behind the schedule, and will end up lagging even more soon. I’m heading to Berlin to a conference for this weekend (yeah, you’ll be hearing these “well, I have plans to X this weekend” excuses for many weeks to come), so be prepared for more skipping of the schedule ahead. There is a slight chance that I get something written while in Berlin if there is some downtime. But even if I do, it’s unlikely that whatever I write there will have all that much to do with Finland. Well, we’ll see what happens. One more breath. Stay calm. Stop wasting your time. Focus and write your damn blog.
To get back home from work today I had to use a shovel to get my car clear from behind a huge pile of snow and ice.
No, it didn’t snow today.
And my car was there only for two hours.
This and the fact that I had parked on a parking square didn’t stop the city workers from deciding that it’s okay to bury my poor blue Mitsubishi darling under the all snow they decided to clear from the street. I don’t think I’ve ever been this relieved to actually have a shovel in my car before. Well, there was that one time near the city dump, but I’d rather not talk about it.
Today it came to a use that was all good and respectable.
Took me about 20 minutes to get the damn thing cleared, and not just because of the wall of snow. Some trendy graphic-designer-looking guy had parked his car so that it blocked the only clear way out from behind the snow. The city workers must have had some relapse into humanity when they left that out, sadly this guy didn’t share the view.
When I had managed to dig up my car, he came walking to me, stepped in the car and moved it away, waving from the window, saying something like “oh, I hope I didn’t park you in there.”
I’m not a violent man, but I did get some not-so-creative ideas about my shovel and where it could be stored.
The really nasty thing about standing there in the snow for 20 minutes, shoveling, is that I tend to live in denial about the weather during these winter months. I wear my summer shoes and light pants whenever possible. I don’t use earmuffs, I don’t usually have a wool cap with me, I use a scarf only because it looks good. Last winter someone probably saw me walking in the snow wearing shorts and sandals. Unless it’s absolutely necessary I try to be more suited up for autumn or spring than winter. And since I have to spend about 10 minutes outdoors during my typical work day, a bit of winter doesn’t have time to bother me. Usually.
Two things were different today. First of all, there was that whole spending 20 minutes playing a St. Bernard to my car. And second… the “I don’t mind the weather” look is actually easier to pull when it is colder. This morning it was just maybe -3°C out there. The problem with the clothing isn’t the temperature. I can live with the chill.
It’s the shoes. They’re the killer.
Okay, technically it’s the snow.
You’ve heard the story how the Inuit have 600 words for different sorts of snow, right? The authenticity of that is something everyone can think of themselves, but “Loska”, the Finnish word for that awful watery snow (slush?) that forms around 0°C temperatures, is something that you should remember.
Remember it and have depressive nightmares about it.
Nightmares about it where you sink in it.
No matter how you try to balance or walk around it.
And it’s awful.
Bad-awful.
Bad.
That’s what you should be thinking when you hear the word “Loska”. That’s what my feet were thinking of when I finally got my car home. I almost thought I’d write a post about how the weather here is hell and I can’t stand it and I want to have tantrums and head somewhere warm where there are palm trees and stuff.
But as I hang my shoes and socks to dry, I must admit that there is one thing that’s awesome about all the snow and the temperature. Looking out the window, it’s still bright outside. Even when the sun hasn’t been up for hours. There is a slight mist in the air that refracts the light from the streetlights and nearby windows, and that gets reflected from the bright white snow covering everything. It’s an ambient glow that just flows in the air. And it’s just cold enough, that there are small particles of ice in the mist, that when they get in between you and a light source, they sparkle.
That, combined with the frost-covered trees that we have had for a week now, makes the winter landscape look like something unreal – straight out of a video game or a high-budget Hollywood animation.
I make a cup of hot chocolate, put on some completely unfitting music to play in the background and lean back in the sofa, letting my back muscles rest. They got some nice workout from the snow-shoveling and deserve a break.
There are a lot of ways to deal with the snow and the cold and the slush.
Sometimes it’s walking there, letting the whole atmosphere get to you and ignore the bad things about it.
Sometimes it’s cursing about it as loud as you can.
At the moment, being indoors, watching the cold from the protective circle of warmth the fireplace radiates feels just like the way to enjoy this.
I drink my hot drink and start pondering why I haven’t taken a nice pause like this in a while. Then I start remembering – I should be falling asleep soon if I want to be able to get up in time. In time so I can go to work early in the morning. Go there early so I can leave early. Early because I need to check in for the flight to Berlin at 15:45. And I haven’t even packed yet.
Okay, deep breaths. I can still do this, right? Even if I feel like I don’t have the time. What do you need for a weekend trip again? Spare pants? Toothbrush? Camera! Where is my camera? One more breath. Stay calm. Stop wasting your time. Focus and pack your damn bags.