A Midwinter's Day Dream

Today it's Midwinter and it's been 5 ½ years since I gave up nicotine permanently.

20-30 cm of snow lies heavily on bushes and trees. The air is cold and clear, and feels so sharp it hurts my throat. Traffic is still suffering from delays and cars and buses are struggling in slopes and crossings. And somehow I feel...really good. These last few days of have made me realise I've been missing real Winter, as opposed to the humid nonsense we usually get around here.

I'm making snowballs while walking the streets and throwing them randomly around me. I'm kicking signposts to make the snow fall from them. Walking home from a party on Saturday night, I was actually laughing to myself just from the sheer beauty of the slow and peaceful snowfall. (Ok so I was a bit tipsy, but I believe I would still have been laughing if sober, only a little...less).

I just wish we could have, say, three weeks to one month of *real* Winter and five months of *real* Summer instead of what we usually now: five months of cold humidity and, if we're lucky, one month of *real* Summer. Need to find such a place. Ideas anyone?