And the saying in
Umeå is that summer doesn’t arrive until after Midsummers. That’s often true
too. At least if we are lucky. Some summers summer doesn’t really arrive. But
this year it did warm up last week, even though the forecast doesn’t look like
a Californian one.
Northern Sweden is
struggling its long cold snowy winters. Seattle is fighting the rain and the
very grey skies for nine months of the year. Yet, having spent quite a lot of
time in Seattle since 1993 there is one thing I don’t understand.
When winter is
loosing it’s grip and spring and summer awaken us, Swedes go crazy. Yes we do.
We are going crazy for the sun. We are turning our faces to the south, throwing
our clothes off, forgetting everything about skin cancer and melanoma because our craving for the sun is bigger then our fear of death. We just need the
light and the warmth like an old car battery needs to be charged.
Seattleites on the
other hand are cooler about the summer. They do appreciate it. The blue skies,
the mountains coming out of the clouds like a forgotten Set Design; were they
really there all this time? But I know that at the end of this upcoming week
with temperatures in the eighties you will hear this phrase all around Seattle:
“When will we be getting some relief?” Seattleites are very thorough about
their sun block and would never chose to sit in the sun. They keep their doors
shut to keep their houses cool and would you catch someone at a beach, it will
sure be a tourist. And there are more sun glasses sold in Seattle then anywhere
else in the entire US, would you believe that, the rainiest city in the
country!
So what I can’t
figure out is this: Yes, the northern Swedish winters are long and dark. But
the Seattle winters are long and dark too. Those grey gloomy rainy months can
really wear you out. Be as much as a dark sack as the Swedish winter. Yet it
seems like the Seattleites don’t need the sun in the same way as Swedes do.
So is it the cold? The cold itself that forces us to shut our doors to keep the
heat in the house. That forces us to stay inside to be safe. Yes, it might very
well be.
Anyway, for now
it’s summer in both my cities and I am going to enjoy it! I’m going to sit outside,
put some sunscreen on and turn my face and my starving body towards the sun,
charging my battery and not waste any energy on cultural guessing games. And I
will take my sun shades on and keep cool…
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