Another Cold Day

I'll start by saying that I really don't like the cold. Actually, it's the cold here in the UK that I don't like. As I sit here writing this, we in London have not had the heavy snowfall that has occurred in other parts of the country. Yet. Snow is forecast for tonight but whether we will get much remains to be seen. I hope we don't because I have to go to the local sorting office tomorrow morning to pick up a couple of parcels.

Today the temperature has barely managed to get above freezing, but it is the fact that we have a very moist atmosphere that always seems to make it feel so much colder. I have, in the past, spent some time in Bardufoss, in northern Norway, during the winter period.

Bardufoss is about 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle and has prodigious amounts of snow each winter. I can clearly remember the first time that I went there. It was in February 1988 and I was still in the RAF at that time. We went to this part of Norway to take part in major NATO exercises that were held each year. I remember stepping out of the back of the Hercules onto a taxiway that was ice covered and snow was heaped in mounds about 10 feet high. As I breathed in for the first time, I felt all the hairs and the moisture in my nose instantly freeze up. the temperature was -19 degrees Celsius, and this was the middle of a sunny day. The coldest temperature that I ever experienced up there was -37 degrees Celsius, and I can tell you that is pretty cold.

Although these were much colder temperatures than we are experiencing at the moment, I never really felt cold when I was there. Admittedly I was issued with Arctic thermal underwear but I would often spend time outside without a coat on. The atmosphere was always dry and this meant that although it was cold, very cold in fact, it never seemed to feel as cold as it does here.

One of the best things about being in that part of the world at that time of year was seeing the Aurora Borealis. This natural light show in the sky has to be seen to be believed. Seeing it on television or in the cinema really does not show it in its true magnificence. Sometimes it is just curtains of white light that move across the sky at speed, but the best displays are when you see the Borealis in greens, reds and yellows. It really is breathtaking to see.

So, I will continue to dress myself in multiple layers while this cold spell continues. And maybe remember what it was like to look up into the night sky and see those multicoloured curtains of light dancing all around me.