I'm ready to admit my first winter complaints of the year. I've held out until February and now it's fair game to let my dragon out for some fresh air. Actually, this winter has been quite beautiful, so before I begin my rant I'd like to give the past few months a moment of appreciation.
We've experienced many different kinds of snow, the sticky kind for snowmen and snowball fights, the powdery snow that quickly turns to slush, the compact, icy snow that looks sort of like homeopathic globuli and sounds really crispy and crunchy when walked upon, and the gorgeous sparkly snow that carries thousands of brilliant, geometric flakes with it as it fall and makes you stop and examine your sleeve for a few minutes, wishing you had a microscope. I've taken pretty good advantage of it so far; we've been ice skating a few times, we've built a snowman complete with a carrot whom we dubbed Timothy (Leary), we've thrown a few snowballs at each other—on my first aim I hit Johannes square in the face, though that wasn't the intention and says more about my poor aim than anything else—and we made some snow angels. I haven't been out sledding yet, though that needs to happen. Skiing and snowboarding aren't really things you do in the city, but maybe I should go try them out on the countryside. Eh, I don't know. I've never really been so keen on winter sports that require equipment like that. I feel like it might just be an epic fail if I try to ski or snowboard.
I've definitely adapted to the cold since last year, and no longer have this feeling of dread when I need to go out into the snow. The Swedish saying, "Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder" (which translates to "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes") has been a bit of a mantra for me and it's so true. If you invest in warm and proper winter clothes, dress accordingly and layer (!) then there should be no reason for you to fear winter. Of course, summer clothes are so much easier and more fun, but I don't feel the same claustrophobia in my winter clothes that I did in Germany a few years ago. My scarf hasn't tried to strangle me yet and no frostbitten toes yet either. To be fair, this winter has been a mild one so far, and the temperatures have only dropped below -5°C a few times (though predicted to drop to -10°C this week) and though we've had a lot of snow, it hasn't been too cold.
Snow though...
This is where my rant comes in. Why does Stockholms stad (City and County of Stockholm) prioritize streets over sidewalks when it comes to shoveling snow and sanding? Cars have a lot more power to drive through snow than pedestrians with baby strollers do. I get it that the streets need to be cleared, but what about the sidewalks? Way more people use public transportation, bike or walk in this city, than drive or take taxis. Sure, streets need to be cleared for busses, but still. I find it offensive that streets get salted, bike lanes get sanded and the pedestrian half of sidewalks are neglected. As a lone pedestrian (just myself walking) I find it slightly annoying to walk in slushy mushy snow, but it's usually quite acceptable. But since my job entails pushing a baby stroller around outside for a few hours every day (I'm more of an outdoor nanny because the parents need access to the apartment and the baby gets really bored in there) my job is made extremely difficult by the lack of sidewalk maintenance.
Today I got really pissed. I literally had to throw all my weight against the stroller to force it through half a foot of snow in SoFo today, meanwhile bikes whizzed by in their nice a sandy lanes, and cars naturally didn't think twice about the condition of their road surfaces and proceeded to make annoyed faces when they wanted to turn right on a green light but had to yield to me struggling through the slush and snow. I'm not sure if I'm most annoyed with the snow thus the winter, with Stockholms stad for not prioritizing pedestrians in this winter, or with my job, which makes me have to deal with winter on such an intimate level. Sometimes I wonder if I worked in a boutique or a bakery if I wouldn't even have to do the whole winter thing as intensely. It seems like people who work indoors are superficial with their winter-clothes; leaving their jackets unzipped, wearing sneakers and thin shoes, no mittens, no scarves, no red cheeks or noses... It works for them because they have to walk 10 minutes from train to office, but if I wore sneakers to "work" now, I'd probably have to amputate my feet after a week.
Furthermore, I miss my converse and actually being able to show the clothes that I'm wearing. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother getting dressed in the mornings and seeing to it that I'm presentable and not totally mismatched. I never really take my winter jacket off anyway. I might as well forget about wearing a stupid bra and just keep my pajama shirt on, throw on that puffy jacket and go. Forget brushing my hair, I'm wearing a hat anyway. Shower?—eh...
No, of course that wouldn't work. Half the struggle of winter is keeping ones dignity while really just wanting to stay in bed. Seriously, who really wants to wake up at 6:45 and hop into winter clothes and two pairs of socks and trudge through the snow for 5 hours? Nobody. Everyone wants to be cozy indoors, in a comfy pair of sweat pants, with a cup of tea and a good book and hibernate until spring comes. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that...
Well anyway, I'm excited for spring—probably too excited. Let's see, just two more months until we allowed to start hoping for the warmth. It's pointless now because winter isn't going anywhere for a while. Deep breath...Deep breath... Grimace.
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