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| Heading to work yesterday |
There are sentences I never thought I would ever hear myself
say – “do you have an extra small in this dress” to a Japanese sales assistant,
“no I meant a cola” somewhere in Argentina and “excuse me when's the resurrection?” at the Holy land theme park, Buenos Aires (resurrection every
half hour at the weekends.) Two days ago I added another to this list. It was
a bright Friday morning, the sun was out.
At the university J was waiting for me, ready for our Friday outing (teaching
in a mineral processing company out in the middle of nowhere which we variously
term Wernham Hogg or Button Moon.) As I
got into the car I remarked at how mild the morning was only to look at the
temperature gage which read -1. Mild at
-1! By the time we got to the company a howling wind had rendered the
temperature to somewhere around -6 – seriously effin cold. This last week in Treviso temperatures have
hovered around the zero or below mark and to my happy at 30 degrees self, life
has been tough. It’s not just the temperature that makes life difficult with
winds and high humidity it feels like the cold penetrates you so deeply that
even when you do get into a warm interior the cold stays with you for ages.
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| The waterwheel ices up |
I always remember the European February as being a difficult
month to get through. The euphoria of
Christmas and New Year long gone, icy streets, winter temps taking a further
tilt downwards and living in a Britain that never seemed to be able to get its
collective head around the concept that snow in winter is not a freak occurrence. From memory there really was nothing much you
could do, save wait for spring and the rain to start. I’ve always found the cold difficult and
winter does see me hibernating (I maintain that I was meant to be born in a hot
country) and after so long in Australia I was seriously unprepared for a
European winter. Everyone said to me
that your first Trevisan winter is the hardest and I think I understand why. Once you’ve frozen your way through your
first you’re gonna make sure you’re seriously ready for the second and get
yourself kitted out with hats, gloves, scarves, piuminos, boots, thick socks,
and jumpers. When I arrived here at the
tail end of last winter I had two coats, my Melbourne winter number and
something lighter for the between seasons if you look at my wardrobe today you
will now see six – yes six coats all of which serve a purpose at different temperatures
(ok I admit the peacoat was an indulgence but in my defence I have wanted one
for years.)
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| and for the curious - The resurrection begins |
With temperature so low Treviso has been a strange place,
the streets are unusually quiet. Bars
are half full and people who do venture out scurry to get themselves to the
warmth of wherever they are going. Bizarrely
we haven’t seen any snow the weather forecasters have predicted it and the
clouds have threatened it but there's been nothing, bar a few flakes. While the rest of Europe seemed blanketed in
the stuff our little area of Italy, for now remains snow free which doesn’t
bother me I always hate it when things grind to a halt as soon as you get a
dusting of snow. There are positives to
all of this, I have got through a sizable stack of reading, the weather is
perfect to indulge in steaming hot cups of thick, you have to eat with a spoon, hot chocolate and fritelle (balls of deep fried goodness filled with cream or
zabaglione that accompany carnival.) It won’t be long till the temperatures
start rising but for now I’m in semi hibernation.
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