I heart cold days

I really like cold days.

When people learn this little fact about me, I get a very narrow range of reactions. For those who know me well-enough to have learned that I was born in a country just 15 degrees north of the equator with only 2 seasons - 'dry and hot' and 'wet and hot' - they give me a strange look and question my heritage. For those who don't know the previous fact, they just give me the strange look.

This doesn't mean that I hate the hot days, but my habits and choices are those of a person with a bias for colder temperatures:

  • my favourite pieces of clothing in my wardrobe are all long-sleeved shirts
  • I don't own any shorts, not counting the pants that can unzip into shorts or my togs / swimming trunks
  • I like curling up into a ball on or beside my couch, even when I'm the only one on it
  • I like the feeling of a light breeze on my cheeks or the gentle rain on my hair during long walks
  • and I like that effect when you breathe out through your mouth and it's visible as a fog for a few moments

I got to experience (or wear) all of the above today.

I had work today, so it's a given that I'd wear a long-sleeved shirt and pants. As I left my apartment building for work on this cold almost-winter morning, a light rain started which was enough to just pat my hair down and not so heavy as to make me worry about getting my recently-replaced-under-warranty headphones soaked. And on the walk back from work in the afternoon, the rain was replaced by a gentle southerly chill to accompany the already cold temperatures that made my breath fog-up in front of me.

All that's missing now, which we don't get where I live, is snow.

I often complain that if the temperatures are going to reach the single digits (celsius), then it should at least be accompanied by a nice sprinkling of snow. And because it never delivers, I often joke about going to live in countries that do snow; countries like Greece, Denmark, or even Alaska, just so I could get one of those white Christmases that are mentioned by our northern hemisphere cousins.

Looking at that list of countries however, it reads like another list that I have, of places that I'd like to visit for reasons other than snow. Greece: I'd like to visit the sites/ruins of an ancient civilization. Denmark: I'd like to go to Legoland, ever since I did that project back in intermediate school about it, and it's the country of a family I befriended over the Internet. And Alaska: it's also the home of some met-over-the-Internet friends, the first really-snowy place that came to mind when I was thinking of experiencing a white Christmas, and it's got yaks (inside joke).

Maybe that's the reason I enjoy the cold days; because they're reminders of the things I'd like to do/see someday.

So as I type this blog - curled-up next to my couch with my legs in a sleeping bag, a large blanket over my shoulders, and a warm cup of soup next to my keyboard and mouse - I'm reminded of all the places I'd like to see, and some of the things I'd like to experience.

I really like cold days.