Boots
Here it is Saturday, and so little writing done. Cold here, but I feel no need to really complain. Yes, the cold clocked in at 0˚F, and topped out at 0˚C (not quite but I'm not about to quibble.) Yes, the air quality is far below required federal standards. But we have good insulation, adequate heating, a heated bed pad, parkas, toasty sweaters. If there'd been (blessed, cleansing!) snow, there are sufficient plows and salt, and usually clear roads within a few hours. We get this sort of weather, so are prepared for it.
No so Britain, and why would they? When snow is occasional, there is no point in that kind of infrastructure investment. Rather like Seattle last year, who took weeks to dig out from a snowstorm that would have been inconvenient for us here for a day or two. I especially feel for the thin blooded folks of our deep south, who live in houses built airy to stay cool, no coats, no boots, and no stores that stock anything much of such items. Camping suppliers must be about cleaned out of anything with wool or down or fleece by now. Pathetic heaters, if any.
Cold I love, I never much minded it even in Boston, where at least two weeks of every winter we spent there, the temperature never got about 0˚F, with wind chills off the ocean beating the tears out of one's eyes. I rose to it, fought and survived, and felt proud of myself, created anew every time. I wore silk long johns, and two pairs of heavy sweatpants, parka, shearling gloves, wool scarf, parka, good boots, and walked fast. I could sense the cold, but not crumble in it, it made me feel so alive. In a way that heat never does.
But I also remember New Jersey in December, in Basic, in army field jackets, socks in the webbing of my helmet, or only that cotton cap on my head, leather shell gloves. Always shivering, huddling for warmth, never ever warm. Exhausted and demoralized by constant cold. That is how I imagine you who are being hit with this drastic change from what you expect.
And if I hear one more person dismissing climate change because it's been called global warming, and it's cold, I'm going to start shouting. Extreme weather is more proof that the climate has changed, will change. I prefer GCFU. Global Climatological Fuck Up.
Everything is broken. Stay warm, prepare for anything.
Labels: Self portrait, weather
Posted by Zhoen on Saturday, January 09, 2010
7 comments:
We were never prepared for the snow in years gone by - in England at least, if memory serves - when we did at least get a couple of falls of snow each winter (going back 2 - 3 decades).
Now I was in the Scottish Highlands one February and we made it to the local pub in deep drifts of snow (what would normally be a ten minute walk took well over an hour). Half way through the evening the power went: they got the generators on straight away so they could still serve draught beer, and were still able to entertain a darts tournament with a neighbouring team because the snowploughs were already out.
Yes, I always feel more alive in the cold -- if, as you say, I'm properly kitted out. Too cold for a long time is desperately demoralizing.
Silk long johns! That sounds so wonderfully decadent. I have a feeling things are going to warm up in Britain over the next week or so. I can sense it in my Canadian bones.
PG,
I got them in Boston pretty cheaply. Very helpful to layer under, no itching.
I agree with your sentiment about global warming whole heartedly. In fact I was driven to call a good friend complacent recently.
Call it 'climate change' instead of global warming.
I also relish the cold, most of the time.
"Not so Britain, and why would they?"
Whenever it snows heavily, people here always complain about the fact that everything grinds to a halt, but on the whole it'd probably cost us more to prepare for such a fringe case.
"And if I hear one more person dismissing climate change because it's been called global warming, and it's cold, I'm going to start shouting."
Yeah, there's a distinction between 'climate' and 'weather'. People can understand that the North Pole is colder than Scotland in general, even though it wasn't on one particular day last week. That's the difference between weather, which changes on the drop of a hat, and climate, which we can grasp much more easily.
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