Winter Begone!

This winter has been extraordinary on both sides of the Pond, but which side has it worse? (Not that it's a competition.)

Mike:

I have to start off by saying that, in order to avoid another upstate New York winter, I would happily endure ten Sussex winters and count myself lucky.  While they do have their own unique pleasures—the hushed beauty of a heavy snowfall, the crystalline stillness of a twenty-below-zero morning, with the air so breathtakingly still you swear it could shatter—for the most part, they are pure torture.  Sussex winters are, in comparison, a walk in the park, but they bring their own special discomforts, or at least I’d better find some, or this may be the shortest post I ever write.

Sussex winters are damp and dark and, although not cold enough to freeze your nose hairs, the dampness has a way of seeping into your bones and drawing your soul out through your nostrils.  If you are susceptible to SADD, which thankfully I am not, you can have a bad time of it.  Even the most southerly parts of Britain are well north of any bits of the continental US, so it is dark when you get up, dark when you get to work, dark when you get out of work and pretty much grey in between, lending a look of perpetual twilight to the weeks between October and March.  And on those rare occasions when the sun does shine, it is in a position to be continually in your eyes.

So the worst thing about a Sussex winter is the incessant drabness.  The best you can hope for is hoarfrost, when the grass, trees, bushes and stationary birds all sprout a furry froth of frost.  It is exceptionally pretty.  But mostly it’s just grey, which tends to make you listless and depressed.  In Upstate, like it or not, you get a fresh coating of snow, oh, every two or three days, it seems, and, like it or not, that gets you outside to shovel, sweep, sprinkle rock salt, make snow angels and have a snowball fight with the kids, whereas in Sussex you would just be sitting inside, eating comfort food and gazing out at the gloomy, drizzly afternoon thinking about how cold you are.

The good thing is, the dark days linger for a relatively short time and by February, when New Yorkers are so winter weary they start doing daft things like naked snow bank diving (honest, I saw this myself) the days are already noticeably longer in Sussex and snow drops are beginning to appear.

So, yeah, winters can be a drag in Sussex, but in this Pond Parley exchange, the US wins (or loses, depending on your point of view) hands down.

Toni:

Every winter I say "What the hell are we doing here?" as I gaze around the frozen tundra that is Chicago. Some winters are not as bad as others but it's all relative. We spend four months (somewhere between November and March) in below-freezing weather, where it's too cold to be outside for any length of time.

It's just been announced that February (which isn't even over) has had the most snow in over one hundred years. (see Expat Mum post for impressive photos).

The thing about snow in Chicago is that
a) it falls on a completely flat landscape, which means there's no skiing, not even a hill or two for the kids to have fun on
b) it doesn't melt so it just sits there, getting dirtier and dirtier, for months

c) it can lead to big fights, as I alluded to in a December post . People spend hours digging their cars out of piled up snow, only to have their parking spot "stolen" as soon as they drive off. This has led to the mayor-condoned practice of "dibs" whereby people place plastic lawn chairs, children's garden play equipment and anything else thay can think of, to warn people not to park in that spot. All day. A few people have earned a smashed windown or two by daring to park there anyway.

The sun shines a lot during the winter months, which means there's not much danger of SADD. What you do get however is CABIN FEVER, especially if you're stuck in the house with small children who need to run around. It can literally get dangerously cold here and a trip to the local park isn't really an option. Yes, there are more and more indoor options where the kids can run around, but none of them are free and well, you're still stuck inside. The supermarkets get full of moms with kids as it's seriously considered "a day out" in these frigid months.

Everyone's getting very excited at the moment in Chicago, because winter's almost over. I know in the next month I'll see people walking around in sweatshirts - and shorts, and they'll be grilling outside despite the fact thet they'll still be able to see their breathe. Brrrr...