Sunny, Scotland and the Dreaded Drecht

It is the start of another year.  It's time to take a deep breath, exhale slowly and take a moment to appreciate our blessings of last year and the blank slate that this new year offers.  Ah yes, that's the stuff.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma located in the middle of the United States of America.  It really is a great state, for many reasons, one of which is the weather.  In Oklahoma, there are all four seasons.  In the summer it's hot.  In the winter, it's cold.  The foliage along the state's eastern border offers a picturesque drive during autumn.  And then there is the new life that bursts forth in the spring...along with the occasional tornado that comes sweeping, or tearing, down the plains.  (For those who are not used to the sky coming down after them, tornadoes can seem like a big deal - and there certainly are some that are.  However, for us seasoned tornado valley veterans, there are very few tornadoes that we think requires more than a shrug and a call to the insurance agent.)

Six years ago I met a Frenchman.  And from that moment on, my life has taken a very different path from that on which this girl from Oklahoma began.

After over three years in France, I have been living in Scotland for eight months.  Scotland is beautiful, unlike anything I've ever seen before.  We live near the Highlands and with the onset of winter, you can see the snow capped mountains in the distance as you drive over the rolling hills.  In the spring, the fields are covered in purple heather.  And the flocks of sheep, in which there is always one that is black, dot the hillsides.  On a bright clear day, the landscape with its stone fences and deep lush green, is so lovely that you simply cannot help but be in a good mood...  On a clear day.

In Oklahoma, it is sunny probably eighty percent of the time.  I've even seen rainy days where the sun still shone bright.  Now I live in Scotland where the sun shines possibly twenty percent of the time.  It is gray here.  A lot.  It also rains almost all the time.  So far, I do not think that I've seen one whole week without it.  

This is my first winter here.  So far, we have had two major snow fronts come through, leaving an accumulated total of over twenty inches and fifteen inches respectively and shoveled mountains of snow up to your waist.  I don't mind the snow.  My car handles the icy roads surprisingly well and I love looking out the dining room windows at my very own winter wonderland.

After about two weeks of weather in which the temperature soared to above freezing, the snow is all but gone now.  The white days have been replaced by gray skies and cold drizzle.  The Scottish have a word to describe this weather.  Drecht.  It is apparently pronounced something like "dreecht", with a germanesque throaty "cht" at the end, like when you are sick and have to cough something up.  Frankly, I think this word describes the weather perfectly.  It is depressing and cold and gray.  As I am so far north on the planet now, the daylight hours only last from about 8:45am until 3:30pm.  Drecht.  I, for one, feel that this word must be said with a bit of a sour facial expression, with one of the corners of your mouth turned up a bit in disgust.  Try it.  Drecht.  Yup.  That's about right.

And so, such are my days now.  Almost no sun, just a few hours of brightened gray skies, cold, drizzle and dirty streets.  Drecht.  But even as I sit here and type my long-winded complaint, the sky has turned blue and I can see the sun shining.  Gone away is the sulky attitude as I think of the snow capped mountains and the one black sheep and remember, once again, how really lucky I am to be here.