The Closing of November

 

I can’t even believe this month is almost over.  It is just absurd that tomorrow is already December.  But, the good news is, I survived what I consider to be the worst month, no problems whatsoever.  I don’t know if my lifestyle changes are really the source or it’s completely psychosomatic, but in either case, so far, no winter blues.  The bad news, however, is that it is –13 C today or about 8 F.    It’s a little too late in the season to think this is just a cold front and it’ll get better; I think we’re in this thing for real now.

There seems to be a little bit of debate amongst my expat friends on what the worst month here actually is.  I still hold hard and fast that it is November.  It’s not like I particularly love January or February, but this is how I see it: with the exception of the current November, no, it’s not particularly cold and not quite the darkest it will be.  But I guess I parallel winter here to torture; so, in an analogy of an abductor, maybe in the mafia (just for added drama) wanting some kind of incriminating  information on their enemy, November is the moment being duct taped to a chair knowing there is a tub of water your face is about to meet, while the rest of the winter is the head under water itself.  Sometimes I think the anticipation and dread is worse than the actual event, that feeling of “oh crap, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming…”

The one exception to my extraordinarily good mood for this time of year, is the fact that my computer died.  For nearly one month, I’ve been waiting for a new battery to arrive, just in case that was the problem of its lack of power.  Unfortunately, no, my computer lived out it’s 5 year life and has moved on to a better place (which, in fact, at the moment means 45 pieces spread across my kitchen table).  I do not know what this means for me.  Naturally, as is the rule for everything here, a laptop is about 30% more than they cost in the states.  So, as much as I need a new computer, I don’t know that I can justify that, not to mention dealing with a Swedish keyboard.  And, I still don’t even know about my hard drive.  My fingers are crossed so very much because it hasn’t been backed up in a couple of months, and it will be heartbreaking if some of those pictures are now gone. 

Due to my lack of computer (and obviously my hard drive in question) I haven’t been able to post pictures in nearly a month.  So, it’s not because I’ve gotten lazy or have nothing to share; it will just be a catch up post of pictures at some point—hopefully.  And, I also have to use my husband’s tablet pc to blog, which is actually kind of a pain with this tiny keyboard.  So, these are the reasons it’s been less frequent and interesting, but I promise more is coming.