All Wintry and Wrapped Up

It's effing freezing here. As I was walking home from the shops I kept spotting people looking at me with pity from inside their cosy houses. At times like this, with the wind whistling through the telephone wires and freezing your nose and lips instantly, I always think how much colder it is in Newcastle upon Tyne. Lovely Newcastle, with an extra added wind-chill factor thanks to the freezing North Sea.

This is the first Winter in ages where I've been feeling consistently upbeat and not in the least bit SAD (except for those little bouts of being fed-up and arsey which everyone suffers from, particularly me). Ironically, I think it might be due to the early horrible hour-long drive to work every morning: the sun gradually rising and blasting through my windscreen (well, not blasting exactly, being Wintry-type sun), entering my eyes, stimulating my hypothalamus and resetting my circadian rhythms.

I may well draw a diagram to represent that.

Another reason for not being so SAD this Winter is that I have things to look forward to (the Joanna Newsom gig in January, a Patrick Wolf gig in February), things to be doing (making a simple quilt) and making use of new skills (knitting better).

Fiddler on the Roof was fun. Angela had booked us front seat tickets at the side of the stage, so the action was so physically close that it felt like we were almost part of it. It was a preview, so there were a few technical hitches, but nothing major that made it less enjoyable. It made me yearn for my 6th Form days when I was in Oliver!. I was intrigued to see how they'd do a musical in the Crucible (usually the musicals are on at the Lyceum, which has a normal proscenium arch), and it was staged excellently. Plus, the orchestra was under the stage, which otherwise would probably distracted me.

The BBC weather website says it's between 7 C and 10 C but with winds of 23mph.
It feels colder than that. On Wednesday night it might be 3 degrees C. Perhaps a frost, finally?