I am still not a fan of the winter. I still find the cold, the ice, and snow (or more like sludge right now) to be annoying an unpleasant. As I walked to the store today I realised that I have to buy myself some spikes to put on my shoes. I had a knee operation last summer, and since it is still healing, I would really like to avoid falling and ripping that open. But finding spikes that fit my shoes isn’t easy. They are size 49 3/4, and thus classified as boats. The largest I could find here locally stops at 46… Yeah. I suppose I have to take my business online and find something there.
But what I did find while out walking, was something I had forgotten a bit about: Lights! Oh how much more light it is outside with all the snow. We have had a rather dark period lately with rain and clouds. With the sun setting before it rises these days, there is nothing really that offer lights. The black asphalt only absorbs the streetlights and makes sure it doesn’t reflect, plunging the world into a darkness that you last could find in the opening of the Bible and Genesis.
Now with the snow here, covering everything, there is finally light outside again. It struck me today how much I had missed that. I’m not a huge fan of the Christmas/”winter” lights people are hanging up – especially not those atrocious blinking red/green/blue ones, but I will admit they do play nicely together with the snow and helps fight off the darkness that surrounds us at this time of year. I just wished there would be some rules about the colours on those lights. They vary from warm yellow to ice cold blue. I’m really not the one to start speaking up for laws and regulations, but there should be someone having a say about the various shades of white/yellow that people put up.
My point with this post wasn’t really to complain about anything. It was to tell that though I am not a fan of the winter as I used to be, there are still things that I can find some enjoyment in. The lights are beautiful and brightens up the whole world around me, it is quite beautiful outside when everything is covered up as well. I feel the city gets a bit muted and doesn’t seem as depressing anymore. Speaking of muted. That is another thing I realised I have forgotten about the snow. Everything becomes more quiet. The sounds don’t bounce around and they aren’t as sharp anymore. This is something I haven’t realised how much have mattered to me before. My hearing is quite damaged after years of loud music, carelessness and other stuff. I have really loud tinnitus. I have a jet plane on one side, and a loud peeping on the other accompanied with “musical tinnitus” – church bells these days – on the other. The dampening of the snow, doesn’t really dampen the tinnitus, but it makes the sound landscape much less confusing and stressful. It is like I take earplugs out of my ears and put them on the world around me instead. The sounds are still present, but they’re not exhausting or give those occasional spikes of disorientation I can experience at times when outside walking. This makes it easier to listen, to sense the world through sounds and to have a conversation outdoors. Even without the need of my hearing aids.
So, I have discovered that there are a few things that isn’t all bad about the winter. Or at least the snow.
(I will upload a picture when my airdrop to the Mac decides it want to work again)
