I reckon February is the worst month of the year. This probably doesn't apply in the southern hemisphere - but here in London, although the evenings are getting lighter, and the parks are full of crocuses (croci?) with hints of spring - but not in the air because it is oh so cold. Now cold of this kind in Switzerland or Canada is probably bearable but here in the UK it is just a gloomy kind of cold, with sleet in the air. We regularly get snow in Britain, but it is always a dirty, slushy snow within hours, or more likely days. Most of us are are suffering (I'm fairly certain) from SAD - a depression brought on by lack of sunlight and gloom. I know I am! My chest (never good) feels tight, and I'm weezing and breathless. As someone remarked to me - 40 years ago I'd be in a sanatorium in Scotland breathing in the fresh highland air. In fact when I went for a stay in the London Chest Hospital last year there was still evidence of the large balconies that were used prior to the Second World War to contain the beds of the patients - they were wheeled out on to them at night and were regularly covered with frost or snow in the morning. Kill or cure I suppose. I'm going to try and find some pictures of snowdrops or crocuses now!
I was lucky - I found a picture of crocuses in the park next to where I work in East London. I've also found a picture of what it was like shortly after it opened around 1900.
2 comments:
Whilst most us English moan about England, it's probably better then anywhere else. Better in terms of crime, standard of living, health...blah blah. Why then do many people want to live abroad (Mallorca say)? or, why do so many South Africans leave their sunny home for our rainy concrete jungle?
Who knows. The grass always looks greener until your standing on it.
Very true!
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