Once again with
yesterday’s snowfall, this winter is making sure that it is coldest and snowiest,
I have experienced in my almost 34 years in Canada.
During the first
week of March in every one of those years, I have always looked back to March 3rd,
1980. At the time as a Technical Apprentice with Rolls Royce, I was to start a
three-month assignment in the Drawing Office. To do this, I had moved from the
Rolls Royce plant in Hillington (Glasgow) to their facility in my hometown of
East Kilbride. It meant for the
first time I could walk to work, which for me was an absolute delight. I
recall very clearly that Monday morning, walking through the old village of East
Kilbride and passing some of the thousands of daffodils that each spring carpeted
the village and the surrounding new town. I can also still remember passing the old village
cemetery and hearing the lawnmowers from over the perimeter wall and smelling
that unique scent of freshly cut grass.
When I look back
on that memory, my first thought is that it was 42 years ago, My God that time has
certainly passed in a severe state of haste. My second thought is that even
after 34 years in Canada, I instinctively at this time of the year, still strongly feel
the absence of seeing countless numbers of daffodils growing wildly all around, and
enjoying that smell of freshly cut grass.
Another related memory
is from 1988, the year I lived through three springs ~
Prior to coming to
Canada on April Fool’s Day of that year, I lived in the Basque region of Northern
Spain in Lejona, Vizcaya (Leioa, Bizkaia as it is in the Basque language). I
left there in late February, when the typical damp winter weather with lots
of rain had ended, the locals were already wearing summer clothes and enjoying warm sunshine on the beaches.
I went to Scotland from Spain, where by early
to mid-March, the grass was getting cut and my home town looked nice with the
stunning brightness of the daffodils and snowdrops.
As mentioned, it
was on April 1st of 1988 when I arrived in Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), at a
time when the roads were getting cleared from their latest snow storm. I recall
with overwhelming shock, seeing all over the place what seemed like mountains of frozen hard snow banks,
grass that was colourless and dead, trees with no leaves and feeling temperatures
that I thought could only exist in the North Pole …!!! It was not until mid
to late May of 1988 that I finally saw leaves coming out on the trees and grass starting to
grow, I don’t recall seeing the slightest hint of a daffodil in what was my third spring of 1988 ….
Two memories from 42
and 34 years ago, that I always think about at this time of the year. I guess the
instinctive feeling of missing or perhaps yearning for the March weather of
Scotland will never leave me. But living now in the
South Shore of Nova Scotia and no longer having to get up early in the morning
to go to a place, I enjoy and feel a lot more content with the winters. It
is only since coming to the South Shore, that I can finally see the beauty the cold season can offer. I have also found that winter beach wanders are the best.
Below are pics
from this crispy March 4th morning wander around our empire, showing
a little beauty from our latest snowfall ….
