Dreach. The Scottish expression for a grey, overcast, dismal weather puts
into sound the atmosphere of such a day as today. What makes things worse is
that the winter just won’t let go.
In December we welcome the snow, it brings light and heralds the Christmas
season. It also brings the ski season and the adrenalin rush driven by a good
run down a steep white slope in bright, crisp sunshine.
By the end of March most people have had enough. But almost every day
there are snow flurries, followed by the mud, slush and general unsightliness
of snow reluctantly shrinking away to leave puddles, and piles of grit. Good
things come to an end but it is better they go quickly rather than this drawn
out retreat and feeble last-gasp attempts to prolong the season.
Spring is poised ready to burst through. The other day crocuses were
poking purple heads out of the snow. Kine* are frustratedly waiting to get out
of the stalls and into the meadows. Bicycles and mopeds are beginning to appear
on the roads and this week the tall poles to show the snow ploughs the edge of
the road, were removed.
Some spring-time treats, still awaited, include going out for the first time in
“ordinary” lightweight shoes, seeing the grass in the garden for the first time
in months, putting scarves and gloves away and fishing out clothes that had
been relegated to the bottom drawer for the winter.
Higher up on the mountains, things are still different. There is skiing
in warm sunshine, the snow still thick and crisp in the morning, heavy and wet
by the afternoon. But the lifties and catering teams are getting tired of a
long stint without a break and they are pleased that the season end is in
sight.
So, as the clocks change and the calendar tells us it is spring, here in
Embach we are still waiting for the winter to check out and everyone wishes it
would get a move on.
* Kine - and old word for cows (plural). It is also rare because there are so few plural words which contain none of the same letters as the singular form
* Kine - and old word for cows (plural). It is also rare because there are so few plural words which contain none of the same letters as the singular form
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