Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Meteorological Rant

It's not good form to complain about living in Paris. BUT.

I have had it up to frickin' here with this lousy weather: gray, cold, damp, windy, spatters of sleet in your face, ominous clouds, the hint of a clearing which always disappears the instant you take note of it. Super cold days with dazzling blue skies? No such thing. I have no doubt that yesterday's prediction by Punxsutawney Phil that there will be six more weeks of winter, while technically not applicable to the European continent, is dead on correct.

And by the way, you never realize how foolish the whole groundhog thing is until you try to explain it in French...to someone from Bulgaria. But I digress.

Had I the opportunity to curl up in my PJs and read books, watch videos, listen to my Ipod, and surf the Internet for the next however long, I would be sorely tempted to do so. However, having children in the house who must be out the door each morning, dressed and fed, before it's even light, it's regrettably not an option. Such is the plight of the mom.

So what am I doing today to combat the weariness and dreariness that is all around me? In a classic case of you can't beat 'em, join 'em or perhaps a show of up yours old man winter, I'm going for a 20 kilometer walk in the countryside. The temperature is not supposed to get much out of the 30s and precipitation is predicted. Oh yes, and the SNCF, which I have to take to get to the starting point west of town, is on strike.

Living in Paris can do some crazy things to your head.

10 comments:

Joy said...

The plight of the mom, is indeed, sometimes not so very delightful. ;p I get it. Totally. This was supposed to be our winter away from snow and cold. And we land in the coldest winter experienced here in over 20 years. With no central heating. Brrrr...

And have fun with the strike. I had my fill when commuting into Toulouse for my class. The rail line skipped my run from time to time, AND the metro was on strike at the end. Then it snowed. Yeah, I get it! :)

debbie in toronto said...

I hear ya sister...just be glad you have the rest of the day to go for a walk....some of us are working AND have kids to get to school in the grey dreary weather on this side of the pond...:)

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

I understand totally! We moan about the grey, damp, wet weather, we moan about the SNOW..but really, it is nothing compared to other places!!

Enjoy your walking, I would join you if I was in Paris!!

David in Setouchi said...

"It's not good form to complain about living in Paris."

Really?
What's not to complain about when living in Paris? It has all of the bad sides of France and none of the good.

And if you don't like crap weather, don't live in Paris. :)


"And by the way, you never realize how foolish the whole groundhog thing is until you try to explain it in French...to someone from Bulgaria. But I digress."

Actually, I just learned that Groundhog day comes from an old Germanic tradition (somehow linked to Candlemass, not it's not a coincidence they're both on the same day) that has sort of died in Europe.

Belle de Ville said...

I remember day after day of gray weather when I was living in Paris and it was depressing. I was much happier when I moved to Geneva where in spite of the cold, there was more sun.
Are you walking in the Parc de St Cloud? It has such a lovely view of Paris.

Anonymous said...

Beats living in northern Wisconsin at this time of year (especially when you have to bundle the kids up in boots, snowpants, hats, mittens, scarves, every time you leave the house!)
-8 on my way in to work this morning...

Starman said...

In spite of David's dislike of Paris, there are a number of things one can do to ward off the "evil spirits of winter". A warm café crème in an internet café leaps to mind.

Eli said...

its the same here in London - some days I think spring will never arrive. Today at work in the morning I could see the whole of the city of London (the square mile) but by the afternoon most had disappeared under the lowering sky.

Then when I got home I noticed snowdrops pushing their way through the weeds (!) in my garden - spring can't be far away!

Patricia H said...

If you were back here in the D.C. area, you would be ranting about the weather also: we are expecting our third snowstorm in less than a week, on Friday. The usual cold and windy winter days with dazzling blue skies have been scarce. Believe me, being in Paris is better, hands down!

preppyplayer said...

I echo others when I say that dark, grey, damp, cold days are everywhere. Here in NJ I survive by playing winter sports, ( platform tennis, skiing) trips to NYC museums and shops AND
Staying in my jammies, reading, blogging, cleaning, working on my business and counting the days to Spring :)

( of course, if my husband is working from home or if a child is home sick- I do get dressed!)

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