Just about everyone I know hates November. Many our age head off to sunnier climes until it's over.
Fortunately the grey skies don't bother me; happiness is where you find it, I reckon.
This poem was written by someone who must have lived in a cave.
This poem was written by someone who must have lived in a cave.
November
by Thomas Hood
No sun — no moon!
No morn — no noon —
No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member —
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —
November!
So ... he I am in Glasgow Scotland in November.
No healthful ease? How about the Norwegian Julefest where we met up with Inger and ate lovely waffles and cakes and met her grand-daughter Ariana.
Warmth and cheerfulness? Try a dram by the fire.
No proper time of day? There always time to get into the kitchen. I took out the pressure cooker to make some soup only to find a piece of pink Lego lying in the bottom!
No sun, no moon? But plenty of reflections... such as the south side of Queen Street Station in Glasgow as construction and upgrading are nearing completion.
No comfortable feel in any member? Here's Harriet, after school, reading the Times Literary Supplement which Iain had left open on the kitchen table!
No stars? Plenty in our house and they are stuck on to my keyboard keys by 'Mr Nobody' aka Ellie!
No morn, no noon; no shade, no shine? Plenty of shade and lots of shine on Ben Lomond's snowy top in the distance as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond mid-morning.
I am repeatedly reminding people that they live in a maritime climate "Look no snow!" (Yes, sometimes we get it but it never stays for long.). Basically, there is always a lot of 'green' in this country. It is most noticeable when being away to a different climate and returning back home again. The land has a lot of evergreen growth, not so much as conifers, but more in the way of laurel, rhododendrons, azaleas, Piraeus plants, green garden hedges and different ivies, and holly of course. Added to this there are yew trees along with cedar and the other conifers are in gardens and roadsides giving their coat of green across the country. In many fields winter crops are planted adding to the greenery too.
And lastly I revel in the fact that I can have plants from the garden centre outside in the damp and they last and last. Yes, it can get frosty in which case I bring them inside.
But do we get snow at the end of the year which lasts until spring break-up? No we do not!
I guess it's all relative; that is why I am probably the only person in this part of the world who doesn't mind the month of November!
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