My ice planet Hoth 2.0

It is that time of year again where I complain about the cold. As a Samu garai (person who is always cold) who grew up in Africa I am not particularly used to wearing 5 layers of clothing just to get cold.

This year seems to be worse than the last. There has certainly been more snow, and twice already it has actually stuck around to be turned into mushy missiles.
This weekend, and up until this Monday morning, has been the coldest ever for me in Kunisaki. I am just grateful to my harassers for forcing me to move out and into a flat that is on the warmer side of freezing.

On Friday it was so cold that I was forced to get up 20 minutes later than usual. The clothing I had left outside overnight to dry was frozen stiff. Literally stiff.
When I finally made it into my car and attempted to defrost the windscreen by spraying water on it (which in my defence usually works) the water immediately froze to the windscreen.

Puddles on the way to work were frozen over. Not even the birds were out. According to one teacher it was roughly 3 that morning and could probably be attributed to the lack of cloud cover the night before. Usually it rains puffs snow at this time of the year. So when the weather is clear the temperatures suddenly drop. This morning was even worse. With the snow residue left over from the weekend the roads had iced over and my rather steep drive way was made even more perilous. I had to dodge ice all the way into the school building and the school corridors are unbearably cold. I feel sorry for the students, because, like Hudson Park, the school values uniform aesthetiques over acceptable student body temperature. Though most depressing was the kitty paw prints in the snow that had iced over.

I don't mind the cold if there is something to enjoy about it. Like snow or movies or diabetes inducing amounts of chocolate. At least over the weekend it was blizzardy enough to justify the frostbite. I had visitors this weekend and it was challenging enough trying to entertain them as Kunisaki is devoid of everything except gambling, drinking and bugs. When only place for surly, rebellious teenagers to lurk about is the discount supermarket then you know it's time to move on up to Springs. 

Anywho. My guests and I drove into the mountains to try and find some ancient culture. As we left “the city” it started to snow. And it started to blow.

Usually the snow just gets spurted out and gently falls to the ground where it melts before making contact. Saturday it was getting blasted about. When we got into the mountains everything was wonderfully white – not deep but enough to be covered in snow.

As could have been predicted we took a wrong turn up a narrow road that only just took the width of the car, complete with serious gaijin (foot deep ditches) on either side. It was, as my adopted little brother put it “epic” even though my best friend was panicking like a crazy person in the background. The kind of thing that you don’t forget, that makes an adventure really memorable. That and the snowball fight that took place around the vehicle as it was slowly reversed back down the scary mountain mini road.

From then on it was blur of exploding snowballs and constant snow for the rest of the day and night. We managed to find the shrine and eventually navigate our way through the blizzard into Bungo Takada and back round the peninsula. Though it was icy and I think our driver was a bit nervous at times.

Sunday morning saw the whole of Kunisaki covered in snow. Which melted by lunchtime despite the fact that it did continue to snow for the rest of the day.

I just wish it would stick.