Friday, 23 August 2013

Holland Diaries- Part 1: Weather


You know you are in Holland when you hear people talking about the weather all the time. At first it may sound weird, and people may seem to be obsessed with weather checking the hourly forecast in the mobile apps every single day. But my perception changed right after the day when I started for work on a day which looked sunny, without an umbrella and was drenched while returning back. And on a cloudy day when you think it is really cold (according to Indians) and put on your warm clothes, you may sweat while walking on your way to work.

Weather literally changes every hour. I love my seat at work where I can look through large open windows from my seat. And the view is never the same. Just today at the clouded sky at 9AM turned into a sunny morning by 10 and had heavy showers by 12 and by 12:30 it’s sunny again! If it were not for the droplets of rain the glass window panels, you cannot tell it had rained 30minutes back by looking at the sparse clouds in the blue sky.

The reason is the geographical location of Holland. It’s near to the sea and the Arctic Circle with no Mountains barring the wind. The wind is real fast.

The clouds change patterns almost in the blink of the eye. They say that the Dutch skies have inspired a lot of painters in the past. The view of the summer sky is similar to the Autumn sky in Kolkata, with bright white clouds and clouds in different shades of grey in beautiful patterns making lovely contrast with the blue background. The only difference being that here in Holland, it changes a way too fast. And if you are in a lovely countryside, the lush green fields, make the frame really picturesque.

It took me almost a month to get to the habit of checking the hourly forecast of the weather each morning before starting for work or going out on weekends making a note of the velocity of wind each day. And as Grannie says, “never go out without your umbrella.”

The proverb : The Morning shows the Day is never true in Holland.

 

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