It's Bloody Freezing

The vast majority of the Finnish population, who have been waiting impatiently for the snow to arrive, have finally got their wish.

After what is known over here as a "Black Christmas" (no snow in December), the landscape turned white over the weekend. And here we are again. In winter.

There has been a general mood of excitement in the country ever since. You hear the same conversation everywhere you go. In cafés, shops, in the street...everywhere. "Thank goodness the snow is here!" they all say. "At last it's light again. I couldn't stand all that rain. And it looks so nice...!"

I truly wish I could share in this celebratory mood. But in our family we are already on the countdown to summer. Now we have to start shovelling snow again....and driving is slippery (the UK would have shut down by now)...and not only that, but it's BLOODY COLD.

The view from my front door

As I took Lucie to the dentist this morning it was MINUS EIGHTEEN DEGREES. I mean who lives in a place like that? Well, yes, exactly. We do. In fact it has been so cold that not even the children were playing out today. They have a minus fifteen limit (and no, I'm not joking...).

So Finland is happy once again. Me? I am sitting in my bedroom as I write this, surrounded by candles and covered in a big white fleecy blanket.  And as I sit here, I'm dreaming about the summer. T-shirts, sandles, walking in the sand and no thermal underwear in sight. I'll be doing my celebrating once there is not a single snowflake left anywhere. Only around another four months to go .....