Winter Has Arrived!

It was a long wait this year, but winter has finally arrived in Somero. In Finland we are always sad to say goodbye to the summer sun, but once we accept that the summer is finally over, the wait begins for winter to arrive. Almost all Finns say that their least favourite time of the year is late autumn, when the days are short, the weather is cold and the snow has still not arrived. It is then that the countdown begins to the arrival of the "real" winter, when the landscape turns from a depressing grey into a brilliant white.


In the UK, the arrival of snow turns the country into chaos. Roads are blocked, trains are cancelled, schools often shut and no-one dares go anywhere. In Finland, the population simply breathes a collective sigh of relief...the dark of November is behind us and winter is here at last.

It looks as though this winter will be shorter than last year, when the snow arrived in mid November. This year, apart from the odd snowfall, it didn't settle until about a week ago, and you can almost hear the relief in people's voices as they discuss the weather. Now at last they can go skiing, the children can get their sledges out of the garage, and Finland looks like it is supposed to look in January. Snowy.

Tonight I am meeting all the people who have signed up for a new English conversation group in Somero. I have had quite a few calls and emails about it but you never know how many will actually turn up. I'm really looking forward to meeting them all...hopefully some of them will start contributing to this blog so that we can spread the word about this little town called Somero.