Sunday 5 December 2010

It's about atmosphere, klimat

Early sunsets limit walking time. A clear blue sky means temperatures will plummet away after dark. Below: the sun is sinking fast though it's not yet three pm. Ul. Trombity.

Sunset today was at 15:25, which rather cuts back walking time on a weekend afternoon after lunch. Photo below taken ten minutes after sunset, and indeed here is the klimat, that ambient mood of stillness and cold on the face.

Below: Looking towards Zamienie. It's -8C; not too cold, though you feel it when you take your gloves off!

Time to turn back and head for home. As I return, those *PAFF* moments multiply - I've been here before, yet not in this lifetime. I try to savour them as they happen, like holding my breath, keeping that feeling like the waking aftertaste of a dream. Days like this I never experienced in childhood, and yet they feel like they were experienced in childhood - yet as an adult. These experiences are regular, commonplace and familiar - and yet entirely inexplicable. One that befell me later the same evening. Driving in the snow, traffic, cold, I look left then right before turning into a main road. *PAFF!* Now, where could I ever had such a recollection from? I can't recall ever having driven in snow in the UK, yet the memory was from more than 15-30 years ago...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sunset at 15:25? Ouch!
Here, around the 21st of December, sunset is at 16:15.

small dusting of snow today, but your cousin is likely going to get hit hard (50-60 cm). Aaah, the wonders of lake effect snow streamers.