Saturday, December 21, 2013

Old Man Winter

While my friend Down Under is fighting against Summer, I am wondering when I'll get used to Old Man Winter. He likes to play games, as seen in the advertisement below.



In fact, this year Old Man Winter gave a sneak preview of his plans for White Christmas 2 weeks ago. Thankfully he left after the weekend sneak preview.

[06-Dec-2013, 24-hour weather forecast]

Today, i.e. Winter Solstice, marks Old Man Winter's official arrival. However, the old one is ever so good with his publicity stunts -- he blew a good amount of snowfall all yesterday morning (and even into the early afternoon) to remind everyone to welcome the new boss for this season. See photo below of the "whitewashed with snow" school compound previously all-green in my other blog post.

[20-Dec-2013, Children having fun in wind and falling snow]

Still I can't complain, I could be fighting Down Under's Summer like ASingaporeanSon instead. Or worse, Old Man Winter could have decided to extend his preview period, much like how Singapore's Orchard Road Christmas Lights come up one month before the actual event. In fact, back in 2010 when I first landed, Old Man Winter launch his preview a month early, on 20-Nov-2010! Back then, a normally 15 minutes brisk walk was turned into 30 minutes worth of trudging (including several slips and "break-falls") thanks to Old Man Winter's frosty blessings. For now, his frosty blessings are expected to slowly melt away, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[20-Dec-2013, Dirty road-side slush from melting snow]

[21-Dec-2013, 14-day weather forecast]

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes to all for 2014!

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p.s. As they say in life, there's always a silver lining in every grey cloud. E.g. The snowy wintery weather makes for beautiful photo shots. E.g. If one has the time and is warmly dressed, it is nice to sit and observe what the creatures of nature do during this wintry season. I have seen squirrels (mainly brown ones and a black one) scampering around doing their "last minute Christmas shopping". Sometimes I also wonder about the birds -- the lone seagull who for whatever reason did not or could not travel with its flock. What would it do? How would it survive?

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