Whatever the weather

Well, first couple of days back to work after the Christmas holidays, and I am exhausted and feel like we've not even had a break, as much as I love working with Children with special needs, getting out of bed in the mornings has proved more difficult! I get up at 6.30am and get myself ready, then I wake my two teenage girls up and try to get them motivated, by then its getting on for 7.15, so I take Ralph out for a walk while everyone else is busy applying make-up. Before the break, which was two weeks ago, it was dark when I took him out, now we've got this dreadful semi dark, not really light thing going on, when it was dark, I knew I couldn't take him out as its not really safe for me to be trying to walk about in the dark, even when I am sticking to the familiar route, but now, its a shall I shan't I situation. I cant use the stick when walking the dog, can you imagine the scene? me trying to swipe my stick along the path and finding the kerb edges, with a puppy constantly chasing the stick, trying to catch it and give it a good chew like its some sort of tasty snack! This got me thinking about the weather and how it affects different people, for me there is only one sort of 'weather' that I am completely comfortable with, of course I am talking sight related, as naturally my favourite weather is sunny and hot, but sunny is no good for me, bright weather causes lots of problems, and when I say bright, I don't just mean sun, there's fog and snow too. Fog has a strange affect on my sight and does something odd to the way I feel too, we've had quite a few foggy days over the last few months, obviously you cant see when its foggy, but for me everything seems to slow down, noises are distorted and I often cant figure out which direction noises are coming from, this makes crossing the road tricky, then there are the 'missing' noises, birds don't seem to sing when its foggy. Then there's the dripping! moisture drips off of everything, making tapping noises when there shouldn't be tapping noises! Foggy days make me feel low, I just cant move as quickly as I want to.
Snow, I have always really loved snow, when I was little I used to dream about snow, when I was pregnant with my first daughter we had a heavy snow in early January, when I woke up and looked out of the window I was delighted, on went the wellies and woolly hat, along with as many layers of clothes I could fit over my enormous belly and I was off out the front door, ignoring the phone ringing as I new it would be my Mum screaming down the line...LYNDA! DONT YOU DARE GO OUT IN THIS BLOODY SNOW, THE BABY IS DUE NEXT WEEK!!!.....me smiling to myself and mentally waving...seeee yaaa as I stomped through the snow, I wasn't out long, and she still told me off when I got back! and as it happened Alice was nearly three weeks late and the daffodils were popping up by then! Snow isn't my friend anymore, snow blindness is so real, it literally hurts my eyes so much, I've got no where to look, every where is bright white! again, I cant use my stick and guessing where the pavement ends and the road starts isn't as much fun as it was when I was 5! The best weather for me is slightly sunny but overcast days, not white summer clouds but slightly dull maybe its going to rain clouds, spring is probably the best season, you get some perfect days late April, summer is too bright, I spend all summer with sun glasses on, Autumn brings low bright sun and leafs (or leaves) all over the place (although Autumn is the most beautiful I think), and winter, well, its just winter, dull and gloomy, with a whole bag of different weathers chucked in, frost, winter sun, dark days, shorter days, heavy fog, snow. I am not very comfortable being out in the dark on my own, the dark seems to wrap itself around me and try's to suffocate me these days, it is truly terrifying (and I hate that word) being out in the dark on my own, its something I don't like to admit too but I am happy not to go out in the dark, I sometimes wonder if I am making it into a big problem for the future, you know, if I have to go out in a emergency or something, but I don't know how to explain to you what it is like out in the dark when your eyes don't work properly, all your other senses are scrambling to adjust and make sense of the environment which is familiar but entirely different. Last year,(or was it the year before?)  the girls and I went to stay with our friends in Woodbridge, we went out in the evening for a ladies night, after our meal we drove to the beach at Felixstowe, it was dark when we got there, my friend took my arm and we walked slowly along the sea front, I couldn't see a bloody thing, but the sounds and smells were fantastic and I hadn't felt so elated in a long time, as we walked along there was a part of the beach where no dogs were aloud and it was clean, we walked to the sea, and before I knew it I found myself running in the dark on the beach, god only knows how I didn't end up on my arse, but it was amazing fun and probably some thing that if I could see properly I would never have done! I remember my whole body tingling with adrenalin, one of my very best memories (so thank you for that ladies xx).
Now all I can think about is running and hearing the sea splashing on the sand, seagulls and the salty seaweedy smell and the amusements in the distance, what was I talking about? oh yeah, weather!
So the weather is one of the reasons I don't go out in the playground at school, that and the fact that when there is a play ground full of youngsters on bikes flying around, I'm afraid my brain doesn't register them quickly enough for me to get out of the way!! The weather is also the reason I get a Taxi to and from work, running up and down the bridge steps at the station was getting more dangerous, and the final straw came when it was so sunny that I missed a step and very ungracefully landed on a commuter....but that's all another story, for another day!