Snow

So, I am, and always will be a big fan of snow. However, I'm a fan of a certain kind of snow. I love when it IS snowing. Like today, I'm outside, it's not too cold, and millions of snowflakes are floating to the ground. I love the silence you get from snow. Everything becomes still, it's surreal. I recently wrote an article for english. It had to be travel related. I was retelling my story of my first Christmas alone in Arran. I woke up not sure what to expect from the day. I wasn't working, and I had hoped I would be. I thought my first Christmas alone would be depressing. Christmas is all about family, no matter how dysfunctional! Anyhow, I woke up to the kids next door screaming and laughing. I made my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I look out the window and see snow! I'd never seen snow on the island before, and how appropriate that it would land on Christmas day.

I shoved on a pair of shoes, grabbed and coat and was out there door. Out in the parking lot of the staff accommodation there were these two South Africans working there (I can't for the life of me remember their names, as they were only there a month). They were building a snowman; their first. I helped out. We named him Monty, as he had no clothes and therefore was doing the full monty! The most amazing thing was their reactions to their first snow. In Alberta we have snow for 6-7 months of the year, so it's nothing new to me. They were talking about the crunching noise it makes when you step on it. How everything seems clean and fresh. How it sounds silent, like I said.

The other big thing about snow, is that it brings Christmas and the holidays. I don't think that there could be a better time of year (but people are definitely going to argue that). I was in West Edmonton mall yesterday to buy ski pants. Yes, after 8 years of not being on the ski hill, I'm going to try my hand at snowboarding. Watch this space for messages about injuries. Anyhow, the whole mall (even though it was the 3rd of November) was decked with ornaments. Christmas trees were glowing with fairly lights. The department stores had red boxes piled one on top of the other. Being that my favourite colour is red, this is one of the simple pleasures I get out of Christmas. It makes everyone happy seeing the decorations, the lights and the festive atmosphere.

Basically I could go on and on about it, but I'll stop here. The picture, by the way, is of the island I was talking about. No, it isn't snowing, but it was the clearest day I've ever been on the ferry. At one point a helicopter was circling the ferry and everyone took a million pictures. The picture I prefered, is this. The water was as still as a mill pond.