I think folks are nicer in the winter (tf)

Heard the wind last night. It sure sounded like winter….even though the temperature during the day has had a mind of its own lately. I keep waiting for the deep freeze to set in, but all I ever see are 7 day forecasts of 40+ degrees. I guess there are worse things to endure…..but I’ve always liked the cold weather, perhaps an overreaction to my hatred of all things summer….but still. To me it feels better getting warm after being cold than getting cooled off after being hot. You may need to read that sentence again but that’s okay.

My house isn’t that old but it sounds old. You can hear things creaking and rattling when the wind picks up, which spooks my kids but charms me. I like to sit in front of the fireplace and listen to it. Sometimes I’ll even pop my head outside to feel the snap….standing on the porch for as long as I can endure in a t-shirt. My retreat indoors makes the fire all the more inviting.

Upstairs takes the brunt of the elements. During really bad storms it can sound like you’re in a wind tunnel….or call to mind the soundtrack of a bad B movie about a haunted castle in the countryside. It’s hardly a castle and we live on a pretty busy street, but….well….imaginations run wild when the only thing you hear is the moaning of wind a foot away from your head. Maybe the kids have a point when they call it spooky.

Strange thing about sound though. One night some guy high on assorted pharmaceuticals drove his Porsche right into our backyard, obliterating a large tree, ripping off a rain gutter and large sections of siding, and taking out our fence at the same time. He missed the front downstairs bedroom by about 5 feet. It sounded like a bomb went off. Upstairs, my kids didn’t even stir, not even when the yard filled with cops…amazed that the driver had executed a perfect 3 point turn in our yard and exited the very way he entered.

But then again, I could be downstairs at 2am listening to the Who at what I consider to be a reasonable volume and they’ll yell at me from upstairs to turn it down. They can hear Keith Moon but not a car in the backyard? Selective ears I say (funny thing…..I’ve never listened to music with headphones because I’m paranoid I’ll miss something important….like a Porsche driving into the side of our house etc..).

It’s February. I think that last time we got significant snow was before Halloween. Things just don’t feel right. I’m not sure if it’s global warming or a liberal plot to piss off Fox News and save polar bears….but something is amiss.

Winter is my time. I love it how the light starts to fade at the end of a work day….and how the stars seem so shine a little brighter when the temps plummet. I love watching the snow fall and when it sticks how the cars have to drive real slow up the hill when they’re usually drag racing and making all kinds of noise. Winter forces people to slow down, and one of life’s irritants is having to deal with people in a hurry.

I think folks are nicer in the winter.

And I think when you’re lucky enough to have a home….it feels more like home when the wind is trying to get in but can’t and you’re sitting in front of a fire with no place else you’d rather be.

And those noises? Music to my ears.

–Tom Flannery

~ by admin on February 3, 2012.