Must have been the wettest September since moving to Poland. Cool damp weather pervades. This morning, the second in a row, my day starts at Łazienki Park with a business breakfast at the Belvedere restaurant. This gives me the chance to stroll through my favourite Warsaw park, though the mood is most melancholy.
Summer has ended. Best submit to the melancholia, wallow in it for a while - for it will pass. Spring will return, one's mood will lift. Before then of course, there will be joyous days of autumnal and winter sunshine. Poles tend to suffer more than Brits from changes in meteorological conditions,
as I've mentioned before. At first after moving to Poland, I found it hard to believe that the radio and TV weather forecasters talking about
niekorzystne warunki biometeorologiczne was anything other than quasi-scientific mumbo jumbo. After all, if in Britain (or Ireland!) the weathermen keeps on saying that heavily overcast skies and low atmospheric pressure mean you'd be feeling low, a state of profound torpor would soon set in. Apathetic lethargy, sluggishness and langour. Yet despite its climate, Britain managed (for a time) to have the world's largest empire.
Have the inhabitants of the British Isles become acclimatised to prevailing dullness and damp? The longer I'm here in Poland, the more I'm beginning to think there's something in it.
Weather patterns here are more stable than on the western fringes of our continent. So when bad weather sets in, it hangs around for a week or more. It's unusual to have four days of glorious sunshine interrupted by a day of rain. I'm still intrigued as to whether the melancholia set off by bad weather is due to a) lack of sunlight on the brain = fewer endorphins being produced, or b) low atmospheric pressure acting upon our circulation. Or both a) and b).
Above: 'Caesar adsum iam forte, Pompei adsum tu'. Anyone else remember that?
Below: portrait of a peahen and her offspring, bedraggled in the rain.
The park is still beautiful when cloaked in low cloud and drizzle; my mood will lift with the coming of sunshine.
Summer has ended. Best submit to the melancholia, wallow in it for a while - for it will pass. Spring will return, one's mood will lift. Before then of course, there will be joyous days of autumnal and winter sunshine. Poles tend to suffer more than Brits from changes in meteorological conditions, as I've mentioned before. At first after moving to Poland, I found it hard to believe that the radio and TV weather forecasters talking about niekorzystne warunki biometeorologiczne was anything other than quasi-scientific mumbo jumbo. After all, if in Britain (or Ireland!) the weathermen keeps on saying that heavily overcast skies and low atmospheric pressure mean you'd be feeling low, a state of profound torpor would soon set in. Apathetic lethargy, sluggishness and langour. Yet despite its climate, Britain managed (for a time) to have the world's largest empire.
Have the inhabitants of the British Isles become acclimatised to prevailing dullness and damp? The longer I'm here in Poland, the more I'm beginning to think there's something in it.
Weather patterns here are more stable than on the western fringes of our continent. So when bad weather sets in, it hangs around for a week or more. It's unusual to have four days of glorious sunshine interrupted by a day of rain. I'm still intrigued as to whether the melancholia set off by bad weather is due to a) lack of sunlight on the brain = fewer endorphins being produced, or b) low atmospheric pressure acting upon our circulation. Or both a) and b).
Above: 'Caesar adsum iam forte, Pompei adsum tu'. Anyone else remember that? Below: portrait of a peahen and her offspring, bedraggled in the rain.
The park is still beautiful when cloaked in low cloud and drizzle; my mood will lift with the coming of sunshine.
I have my own theory about countries.
ReplyDeleteAs we know northern Europe is richer than the southern part.
The reverse goes for the weather.
So - northern Europe's inhabitants are less tempted to spend time outdoors and will more likely to devote much time to work.
There you go, no need for history or economics - it's just that in one sentence - if you want to make Spain and Greece get out of the crisis - make it rain :-D
Get the serotonin going with a good bike ride. It never stopped you before and you've ridden through all sorts of muck.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, make sure you're not coming down with something. Is the flu going around there, and have you had an immunization?
Then I would just say, this too shall pass, and have a nice rest. You sometimes do too much. :-)
@ Martin,
ReplyDeleteEntirely agree with you! As I observed elsewhere, 'at -26C, there's no such word as manaña'
@ Jeannie,
Just got over a light cold, otherwise health is good. Rode to work this morning. Rest? Too much to do :-)