I hate to say it but I’m finally sick of snow, and all it’s loveliness. Back home we’d get snow once every……..ooooooh…..ten years, although in recent years we’ve had some pretty nasty winters with heavy snow. But it was still a novelty, we made a snowman, messed about in it, laughed when we slipped on the ice and generally were thoroughly unprepared for it. But here it’s just another thing to work around. Within minutes of any snow sticking to the roads, the ploughs and tractors are out in force, sweeping down the street in perfect harmony showing the snow who’s boss. The footpaths are gritted, well the main thoroughfares are anyway and if you’re careful and sensible you won’t fall on your ass. I almost did the other week when I ignored the warning stick* under the clock tower and did a merry jig for a few seconds before righting myself….much to the amusement of the locals around me. I just nodded at them with that look that says “I was in complete control and merely did that whole flappy legs thing for your amusement”….Yeah.
Walking to work has gone from being a quaint and leisurely stroll through a snow covered scene to a grueling battle down slippy side streets through biting blizzards that seem to be targeting your face and your face alone. And then when you get into work, the flakes are all gentle as a Summer breeze, falling slowly and hugging everything they touch….those soft, soft bastards. So yeah my love of snow has been lost and this saddens me. The magic of it is gone, the rarity is gone, it’s just…..snow. Such is the nature of growing accustomed to things I suppose.
One thing I did enjoy and probably always will is the feeling of walking on a frozen lake. I know in previous posts I mentioned that scene from the Omen 2 where Damien drags a poor defenseless soul to his doom under the ice on a frozen lake, but I had to put that thought aside and go for it. When you feel the whole ice sheet move as you step onto it, that’s not comforting…at all. But then you look out and see families running and jumping on the ice, fathers carrying their kids on their shoulders, mothers sitting down with babies while their kids play ice-hockey and you realise you look like a total wuss. So ya gotta suck it up and step onto that surface that just days ago was translucent and moving. It’s a weird sensation, very unnerving but exhilarating at the same time. The temperature is back up around zero now so probably won’t get another chance to walk on ice until next Winter, might just invest in some skates and see what all the fuss is about.
*Literally a stick with a little warning label on it, resting on a wall next to an ice patch. I suppose those big plastic yellow men would get in people’s way.
Czeching Out Tasmania 