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People who live in Green Bay, Wisconsin may get used to it, may even love it. Hardy Canadians may think it’s just fine. Inhabitants of the Russian city pf Arkhangelsk may just take it in their stride. I even used to work with a couple of guys who said they not only preferred it but looked forward to it each year. Me – I dread it coming, hate it while it’s happening and celebrate when it’s finally over. And the worst bit of all is February.
No doubt people in Green Bay and Arkhangelsk would probably think that a mere -1 degree centigrade means you don’t need the central heating on. And that’s as high as the temperature got where I live today. To be fair, in recent years it can probably be considered unusual to be below freezing all day. 
And it was only two or three days ago that the mid-afternoon registered a balmy 10! But not today. The morning frost lingered. And lingered. And is still there. Lingering.
Pictured right is my latest addition in my almost futile attempts to keep warm. They’re called HeadSokz and they are truly fantastic although I don’t recommend wearing glasses with them! There are all kinds of permutations you can fold this thing into for varying degrees of misery and it really works. My afternoon walk around a local lake with the dogs found me with warm head, chin and ears and even my nose didn’t suffer too much. OK – so I looked kind of stupid.
The other picture shows some of my older and reliable sources of warmth and these all came from the Celtic Sheepskin company God bless their little, er, cotton socks.
Since leaving Peterborough in late 1994 I think we’ve managed to get through just two de-icer sprays. (Compared to about 2 a week back then). And during our stay in Hastings we didn’t use decicer once! Even up here in Aberdeen we didn’t need it last winter and only a few times so far this year.
I remember those cold fen winters. The frozen roads and the biting winds. Brrr!
I’m afraid I’m one of the cold lovers…the last 2 weeks have been fantastic..bright frosty mornings.The weatherman last night seemed to enjoy telling us about the weather starting to grow warmer,combined with wind and rain! It just seems easier to work and live with the cold rather than wind and rain or rain and wind.I was in Utah last month and it was minus 20 but seemed easier to function in than the driving rain on the way here…as you can see I realy hate the rain.
@thud
Sure – hate rain and grey skies but have to prefer it to biting cold.
Well – can I not loathe the cold AND the rain!
The problem we have where I live – and in fact England as a whole – is not so much the cold as the humidity. It is damp and wet. You can walk out on a cold but dry day and get wet in the process. That’s not something I think you get in Utah!
I’m with thud on this, I think there is something special about a cold bright, frosty morning, it just sparkles.Whereas dismal grey nothing days really are the pits.
Yes Malc/Thud - but in the Fens/East Anglia area you get cold,frosty,dismal grey and it can last all day long. Tis bleak. Never mind Andy, Spring is jsut around the corner. You’ll only have to contend with warmer wet then.
Andy – If you wore that hat thing in the Heathrow area you would get bundled into a local police car and questioned about the latest mugging in the high street. Just ask Eden, he’s recently bought something similar for his long trips to college but won’t be wearing it again.
That’s right. Fen murk is like no other murk you;ve ever encountered. The sun doesn’t shine here for days and days sometimes.
Sorry to hear about Eden although I’m not much surprised. On the bright side though – it must have been warmer in the police station.
Those head sock things are all the range in scutterville. The local yoofs look like ninjas.
I am also one of those winter/cold lovers, and what I find works the best is one or two or three layers of wool underwear. Keeps me warm almost no matter what.
pkl: This is going to be much more than anyone wants to know but sometimes you just have to get personal. One of my problems with cold weather is that if I wear too much clothing (any time of year) and any sort of extra clothing – my skin reacts badly and breaks out in persistent itching. Makes it difficult on really cold days.