Snow

I’m not sure that I can speak for all Australians, but for me, snow is about fun. It’s a novelty! Yes, we do have snow in Australia, in fact we Victorians can boast of a number of very respectable ski resorts within three to five hours drive from Melbourne. We don’t guarantee good snow seasons as our winters are fickle and often warm. An extended El Niño weather pattern hasn’t recently been kind to the snowfields of Victoria either.


So we ski and snow board and party with friends in ski lodges. The hardy, traverse the white wilderness and camp out or stay in huts built by stockmen who grazed cattle in the high country years ago. But only those who work in the ski resorts actually live with the white stuff on a daily basis.  Snow here in Sweden, well this winter at least, is ubiquitous. It creates beautiful, surreal landscapes, stark contrasts, soft contours and transforms ugly traffic roundabouts into perfect, crystalline UFOs. Despite the fact that snow here is just so normal, I cannot help myself! I want to throw myself into those pristine drifts and throw handfuls of it at other people. I want to sit on all those snow laden seats and leave a body print. I want to stick my tongue out when it’s falling and have it melt on my lips.

Seasoned locals would probably think I was crazy should I do any of these things, and whilst I have skipped from the path on occasion (yes I did get snow in my boots and no I didn’t care), I have not indulged the full desire to play. My inner child is restless however and cannot be constrained for much longer. So Stockholmers, if you see a woman making snow angels somewhere or sitting on a snow covered park bench with a silly smile on her face, you’ll know she’s not mad, just Australian.