Sunday, February 12, 2006
Moody weather
After a mild beginning of this year, February has finally decided to show what winter is all about in NY: snow blowing all over, propelled by strong winds. Flurries started yesterday afternoon and the snowfall has not yet stopped. They are talking about 23 inches so far.
This brings back memories of my early years (1950’s) in this city, when snow storms occurred quite often between the end of January and mid February, and stopped completely this metropolis from functioning. In those days I remember walking in the middle of the street, blinded by the drifts, but unconcerned about vehicular traffic that was non existent for hours. I was very young then and enjoyed the experience, which was just a replication of my life while growing up in northern Italy, at the foot of the Alps, with Switzerland just a few miles away, on the other side. The winters there lasted several months, usually from October through April; the home heating was restricted to just certain rooms, and we slept in icy cold bedrooms, but our bodies were acclimatized to this environment.
Then, I was marveling at snowfall, while running outdoors wrapped in heavy woolen clothing; now, I prefer enjoying, from the inside of my warm and cozy apartment, the white lace and soft blankets that Mother Nature builds on the trees and fire escapes of the brownstones just outside of one of my windows. This impersonal and chaotic city allows us blessings, even during a bad storm, that are not present mostly everywhere else. We rarely have lack of energy, food, or communications that impacts instead such a large portion of this planet, and we should remind ourselves of this luck when we feel like complaining or are unhappy about something that may have not gone completely right!
This brings back memories of my early years (1950’s) in this city, when snow storms occurred quite often between the end of January and mid February, and stopped completely this metropolis from functioning. In those days I remember walking in the middle of the street, blinded by the drifts, but unconcerned about vehicular traffic that was non existent for hours. I was very young then and enjoyed the experience, which was just a replication of my life while growing up in northern Italy, at the foot of the Alps, with Switzerland just a few miles away, on the other side. The winters there lasted several months, usually from October through April; the home heating was restricted to just certain rooms, and we slept in icy cold bedrooms, but our bodies were acclimatized to this environment.
Then, I was marveling at snowfall, while running outdoors wrapped in heavy woolen clothing; now, I prefer enjoying, from the inside of my warm and cozy apartment, the white lace and soft blankets that Mother Nature builds on the trees and fire escapes of the brownstones just outside of one of my windows. This impersonal and chaotic city allows us blessings, even during a bad storm, that are not present mostly everywhere else. We rarely have lack of energy, food, or communications that impacts instead such a large portion of this planet, and we should remind ourselves of this luck when we feel like complaining or are unhappy about something that may have not gone completely right!
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