Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I was going to write something witty. It was well thought out, coherent, and funny. Honest. Then I got distracted. Not by ticking clocks, unannounced visitors or sore toes, but by Skyscanner.net. I look at British Airways every now and again to plan trips away, and generally fantasise about trips to foreign climes.
I will go to Times Square again some day soon. I promised myself that before I went down into the sweltering 42nd Street Station one September and it was gone, but for now I’m looking at Europe. As I stood above Europe’s largest glacier from my vantage point at Skaftafell in Iceland this year I promised myself I’d go back there too. I promised myself to put aside more time, more money, to get fitter and go back being more ‘outdoorsy’. So far that’s manifested itself in buying loads of fleeces, but I guess that’s why I’ve set myself the target of riding my bike each day too.

The trouble is the putting aside the money and the time, but perhaps most importantly my itchy feet. No, not some terrible Athlete’s complaint, but here’s what happens: You go on any travel website, be it hotels carhire or flights, and you get that delicious drop-down menu. It makes you salivate at it sweet, sugar-coated wares. You tell yourself you’ll just have one, but you’re tempted like some evil devil-bribery to explore the other options. To taste all the fruit on offer. The next thing you know, you’re considering Norway. In March. Believe me, it’s cold in March (minus 3c). But it would be somewhere new, and for some reason I have this desire to see everywhere, all at once. Well, certainly everywhere cold for the time being. Perhaps it’s because I want to see it before the doom-mongering scientists are proved right and everywhere starts to resemble Egypt on a hot Tuesday, but probably just because I’m a cold-dweller. That is to say, I like the cold. I hate the hot months – they’re associated with the bad stuff like Hayfever, Asthma, sore contact lenses and having to bare my legs to the world. Much more for me the necessity of a good water-proof coat, mittens and boots in front of a roaring fire.

So here I am planning my (ahem) Summer Holiday. Somewhere cold, damp(ish), possibly necessitating a four-wheel drive hire car (which doesn’t damage daisies or pleasant green boggy fields too much). Norway, Iceland, Finland, the world is my oyster. Well, a snow oyster at any rate…