Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Gloom

It's hard to capture gloom in a photo. I wonder if it needs a wide-angle lens, or some equivalent technology capable of capturing the full spectrum of gloom.

This winter has certainly been the gloomiest on record. It's hard to explain what a lack of light does to you; you have to experience it for yourself (and for six months at time as well) before you can fully come to grips with this Pit of Despair.

The other day I was watching a show about the making of Skippy, when footage of Australia popped up on the screen. For a second, all I could see was blazing light, then endless brown tree-tops, and then dirt, dirt, everywhere precious dirt (no mud in sight). I leaned closer to our 13-inch TV screen, as if it wasn't big enough to see. Light. Natural warmth. Dryness ...

Yes, the summer here is very, very nice, and sensibly mild (no sitting in car seats hot enough to cook fried-rice), but the winter is a slow-moving abomination. It makes me wonder how long I can live in a place where light is considered a luxury, and something you must fly south to retrieve.

2 comments:

gerrod said...

I too have been pleasantly surprised by the slightly warmer lately - not to mention the longer days - however, then tomorrow's -3 came along and spoiled my fun.

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

I feel (remember) your pain.

I lived in miserable wintry Vancouver fully two months before I spied a ray of sunlight. When it struggled through the skylight (cruel joke) over my desk at work I actually sprinted down three flights of stairs and outside into the snow, turning my face to find it like some sun-starved lunatic. Which is exactly what I was.

Canadians always said, "These summers make the winters worth it," to which I say: AU CONTRAIRE, MON FRERE. AU CONTRAIRE.