Jessica
Davies from Duffield has been a regular columnist for All Things
Local for the past 3 years. Jessica is now at Cambridge University
studying French and Spanish. With such an intense workload, Jessica
has decided to step down from her role as regular columnist for All
Things Local and this is her final contribution:
Welcome Winter
This is the time of year that Dad likes
to play his thrifty heating game. It’s a game of endurance and
pushing the boundaries. And shivering. He likes to sneakily knock
the thermostat down one degree at a time and reduce the hours that
the radiators thaw; with an adamance that 18oC is a
healthy room temperature. How cold can a house get before the family
turns into icicles?
There’s probably some secret league table for
fathers everywhere. “I got it down to 15.5o today,”
They boast, “Only had it on for two hours!” Cue impressed
hand-shaking and blokey congratulations. We just huddle together
resignedly.
I can forgive winter for making me
sleep in a cocoon of dressing gown, fleecy blankets and duvet,
surrounded by hot water bottles. I can even put up with the
depressingly grey mornings when it’s terrifying to set a toe out of
bed, because the sub-zero temperatures make way for exciting
novelties that have been forgotten about amid the tedium of t-shirts
and boring in-between weather.
I want drama from my sky. I want heat
wave or snowfall, fierce wind or mysterious fog. Much of the time,
England’s weather is indecisive – autumn is all showers and
breeze and short spells and frosty edges, whereas winter here is
executed thoroughly. An everyday family walk could be dull -
plodding along, drearily uphill and aimlessly downhill. Winter throws
a bit of spice into the mix. She strips the trees to leave hauntingly
beautiful skeleton silhouettes and stiffens the grass to give a
satisfying creak when we tread. A brisk winter hike gives you a
fairytale rosy flush and gets the circulation going. Plus I can
gleefully dust off my pea green coat and retrieve my beautiful
rainbow scarf and gloves, glad for zero threat of a bizarre
socks-and-shorts tan.
When my legs have entirely forgotten
the golden brown sunshine feeling of summer, a hot drink is medicine,
an antidote to the frost that presses threateningly against the
windows. The steam floods my glasses, rendering them opaque, and I
sigh with happy anticipation. I am permanently in the mood for a cup
of tea and often scarcely have I drained the dregs before the kettle
is put on afresh. Winter is a time of banding together, of laughing
and of passing around scorching mugs. Hot chocolate anyone?
As the world outside grows darker and
colder, the lights inside glow brighter. Ice tightens around the
visitors’ cars on the drive whilst indoors songs are sung, food is
gobbled and spirits remain high. Everyone’s clothes become more
colourful and jolly despite the plummeting temperatures on the
streets. We have the ideal excuse to wear ridiculous woolly socks
and gorge on casserole and crumble.
When the flurry of red and green
festive sparkle dies down, the Christmas presents are thoroughly
investigated and the doors are locked – an established custom at
home known as the hibernation period. It’s the rest between the
relatives, and a brief respite from celebrating the cheer when we can
sleep until late and generally indulge.
Winter is my favourite time of year.
Last year the snow was so special – and so unusual. Because, lovely
as it would be, the weather isn’t always that spectacular. It’s
sometimes just an inundation of chilly muddy rain. Hopefully this
winter the delicate drifting flakes will be a frequent sight and
we’ll get towering mounds of snow again. Then I can wear my
wellies and scruffy navy jumper and enjoy snowball fights and snowy
sculptures, as well as the other joys that winter brings –
glistening turkey, early nights and friends home for the holidays.
Oh, and did I mention my birthday is in January?
Jessica
Note from Editor: Congratulations on
securing your place at Cambridge University Jessica, thank you for
providing an excellent and well-articulated range of articles over
the past 3 years. Good luck with your course and I wish you every
success for the future. Karyn x
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