Winter’s here, then….
Well, that was a bit of a shock, wasn’t it? Snow? I must admit that wasn’t what I was expecting.
On Monday I did the shopping in a t-shirt. In our local town, it was 20 degrees – astonishingly warm for the end of October – and although since then it has rained, which lowered the temperature somewhat, I had quite forgotten what a stiff nor’easterly can do to the atmosphere.
Last winter was unusually still, given that we live on a hill. Normally in winter, one characteristic of this house is the crashing, booming, creaking sound of beams and timbers shifting in the wind like the rigging in a ship. So when it started up last night it felt comfortingly familiar.
The bedroom temperature too was familiar, though not quite so comforting – 13 degrees. Too bloody cold by half when I’ve got used to 17-19 degrees in there. We still had the summer bedding on and our 4.5 tog wool duvet, plus a couple of wool blankets just didn’t cut it, especially with our stay-cool bamboo sheets, and we both kept waking up cold all night. So today I’ve stripped the bed, put the electric blanket on number 1 to take the chill off, and added a huge vintage wool-stuffed quilt. I have no idea what tog it equates to, as I found it in a local brocante, but I think it will do for now.
We got up pretty early in order to warm up, and today is the day I’ve cracked out the thermals (the DH succumbed yesterday). So, that will be me in my Superwomans from Five Seasons for the rest of the year.
The forecast for today was 7 degrees but actually it’s 2, and we’ve had snow, rain and hail. The snow didn’t settle, just flurried down in gigantic flakes the size of postage stamps. I walked the dog in it later and it was beautiful, with the golden, still unharvested maize, and the sun shining on the stubble. The sky alternated between charcoal and a brilliant blue and with the standing water in the paddy-like fields the whole landscape turned into a mirror.
Back home to camomile tea and chocolates, lately brought back by the DH from Brussels, and a roaring woodburner surrounded by sleeping cats. I must admit to loving winter when it’s like this – when I can get out in it, get soaked, then come home, get dry and warm again and just relax in my big new black leather recliner (el cheapo, courtesy of a friend who was having a chuckout). It’s one of the rare occasions that living in the country is exactly like you thnk it’s going to be.