Monday 24 October 2011

Waiting for Winter...

So apparently we should expect our first - proper - snow of the season in Moscow this week. In a way, I will be glad to see it; Autumn here can be beautiful - and currently things are considerably brightened up by the all the golden leaves floating around - but even in the occasional sunshine there is the spectre of Winter looming in the background. It's almost like a 'well, we might as well get on with it' feeling - for me, anyway.

Having said that, the Potksi Familiski is far from ready for extreme winter. We have no winter tyres on the car yet, the snow trousers I ordered online for Boy #1 turned out on arrival to be unlined (what the hell is that about?) so need to be returned and replaced, and I've not yet replenished my supplies of chilblain cream...

But I'm going for glass half full today, so on the plus side once it does set in, there are of course far fewer tricky wardrobe choices to be made once it gets to winter proper. As soon as there is a good covering of snow on the ground it's jeans, sturdy boots and duvet coat and no-one (in the expat community, at least) judges you for that when it's -15degC.

Admittedly, the hat hair issue is a problem. A big problem. Or rather, in my case, a 'fine, flat, fly-away wispy can't do anything with it' problem. But I'm lucky in that I am not alone in this, so once more, no judgements are made (by the expat community, at least).

See? Glass half full, that's me...


Note: Whilst typing this post it has started to snow. I may now write a post entitled 'Waiting for that last 3 kilos to drop off' and see if it has a similar effect.




9 comments:

  1. Speaking as a person who has not bought a winter coat in over 11 years (not really needed in the desert Southwest,) I am dreading the winter in Seoul, which everyone keeps assuring me (gleefully) will be especially bitter this year. Hurrah.
    And please, please, explain to me: what is a chilblain? I have read about them in English (British) books and even Googling doesn't make it clear. Are they a rash? A sore? Scabs? I hope whatever they are, I don't get them in Seoul...

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  2. Oh MsC, you don't know what a chilblain is? You lucky, lucky thing...

    So, for those who don't know: a chilblain normally occurs on a person's toes and happens if you have bad circulation and your calves (yes, calves - not feet) get cold. Your affected toe(s) go bright red, and swell up a little, become extremely painful if touched and downright excruciating if knocked. The swelling can cause your skin to crack, so they can also - as with Boy #1 in the past, although interesting not since we moved to Russia - become infected. If that happens you will need antibiotics, but otherwise you can shift them with cream, if you're lucky. Or they'll just go when it warms up. My advice? Wear long socks and slippers in the house!

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  3. Does this mean we can come up with some new storyboards but with a mildly wintery theme?

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  4. Argh, it sounds horrible! I have never experienced that, even in Boston and/or Germany, which got quite cold in the winter. I hope they aren't going to start in Seoul! Going now to figure out how to keep the calves warm...

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  5. Gah - I don't think I could stand it snowing this early in the season. Apart from anything else I don't have my glove supply in place. The Little Guy wore gloves for the first time on Friday - and came back with only one! Argh!

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  6. I have king Tut Hair that is way too boomphy so maybe I should move over there for the smoothing effect. Until then I will stick with my Brazilian (hair straightening). It was 90 degrees yesterday after a rubbish summer so not sure what mood California is in....

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  7. At school we were always told that if you put your feet on a hot water bottle without a cover, you would get chilblains. I wonder if that's true? Also that sitting on radiators would give you piles. I think it was just an old wives tale.....

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  8. NC - are you game? (Although we are moving house shortly, so not sure what the flowerbeds there are going to look like - will keep you posted!)

    MsC, like I said - long socks help!

    EPM, the lost glove syndrome. How many hours wasted spent hunting for those, I wonder?

    ALW, stop showing off with this talk of 90deg, please!

    NVG, I remember the same old wives tales bu have no idea if they are true or not. Certainly the hot water is not the culprit in my case because we don't even have any...

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  9. I have in no way experienced that, even in Boston and Germany
    When we play the WOW, we need to try get the Cheap WOW Gold,thst's to say, spend less money, do we have any good way to buy wow gold cheap from trust friends or some way else? When we have that we can play the game becomes more quickly and update the levels more easy.

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Go on - you know you want to...