I've just seen a news item about Bewick swans arriving at Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust, having flown in from Siberia. Generally speaking, this indicates that we'll probably be looking forward to a pretty cold winter. In addition to this sign the trees and shrubs are absolutely laden with berries, which is always regarded as a sure sign of impending cold months, the berries being able to provide for birds through the dark days of a long, cold winter. One thing is for sure --- the weather is already feeling much colder in the mornings and evenings, although we are still having reasonable days.
All this talk of cold and winter takes me back to childhood 
when the winters were really bitter and when frost seemed to be so permanent that it often hung around all day. Some mornings you would find a hoare frost that was so widespread that it covered the ground, the trees and the hedgerows. It looked as though it had snowed in the night, but this covering was FROST not snow! It always looked so perfect. I guess that's why it's so easy to recall now, all these years later. As a child I really loved the Winter. There was always something magical about the longer hours of darkness, coming home from school on the school-bus as it was getting dark, then arriving to find lights on in all the windows. In those days we didn't enjoy central heating in our homes, so getting up on a cold winter's morning often meant that there would be ice on the inside of the bedroom window, fingers of frozen condensation climbing upwards on the panes. It never worried us because that was all that we knew. Not for us the luxury of warm rooms and fitted carpets! We had chilly rooms and cold linoleum instead!!!
when the winters were really bitter and when frost seemed to be so permanent that it often hung around all day. Some mornings you would find a hoare frost that was so widespread that it covered the ground, the trees and the hedgerows. It looked as though it had snowed in the night, but this covering was FROST not snow! It always looked so perfect. I guess that's why it's so easy to recall now, all these years later. As a child I really loved the Winter. There was always something magical about the longer hours of darkness, coming home from school on the school-bus as it was getting dark, then arriving to find lights on in all the windows. In those days we didn't enjoy central heating in our homes, so getting up on a cold winter's morning often meant that there would be ice on the inside of the bedroom window, fingers of frozen condensation climbing upwards on the panes. It never worried us because that was all that we knew. Not for us the luxury of warm rooms and fitted carpets! We had chilly rooms and cold linoleum instead!!!Now, all these years later, it's a different kettle of fish though! Now we are spoiled by all the cossetting that our modern lives get. We are wrapped in blankets of warmth from central heating in our homes and work-places and efficient heaters in our cars. That's OK, of course, but the problem is that, due to climate change, we don't often get the really cold winters that we used to, even if they sometimes make us feel that way.
Which brings us back to those swans from Siberia. It's so-o-o-o-o-ooo cold there! Does that mean that the swans have come here because it's warmer than where they've been? Or, as I fear, does it mean that they have come here because it's going to feel just like home? Only time will tell as the next few months unfold!
Have a great day and enjoy the weather where you are, whatever it's like!
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