When I was at Laurier, there was a French exchange student living on my floor. Her name was Marianne and she was from Grenoble. She chronically miscalculated on Canadian winter weather. When she looked out the window and saw one of those beautiful clear winter days when the sun is shining and the sky is a clear, cloudless blue, she thought that meant things had warmed up. We of course know that means exactly the opposite, that it's colder than crispy cold out so wear extra layers.
I'm having much the same problem as Marianne with my clothing choices here in Gborg. When it isn't windy and the sun is out, it is definitely short sleeves weather. When it's cloudy, it's cold. You could take an umbrella everywhere because even though it's sunny right now, there are always rain clouds somewhere in the environs and you may be about to get wet. Last Saturday for Marstrand, I read the weather forecast, decided shorts and a sweater were the order for the day, and nearly froze until the sun came out about 1pm. Yesterday for the air show was no different. I forgot to factor in the wind.
Having never been to an air show before, we brought mats to sit on, cameras, raincoats. I thought we'd be walking on tarmac the whole time, so 3 of the 4 of us wore runners. Guess what? We parked at the horse place next door, hiked through 2 fields and a woods to get to the tarmac. Remember what I said about the daily rain? Fields of mud and puddles. My feet were ok until I looked at them. It was a little like when the Coyote is chasing the Roadrunner, and he goes off a cliff but doesn't fall until he looks down. My feet didn't register as soaked until I looked at them. We hiked through more fields to get from part A to part B, then found the spongey plastic path (sort of a dock to get across the wet field), but once your feet are wet, wetter isn't really an issue, is it?
We saw some really neat airplanes, a good mix of fighter jets, historical planes, and choreographed precision flying. And they flew RIGHT OVER US! I don't think Canada would let you get that close. The height the F-16 flew straight up was incredible. We lost it in the clouds then had to listen to hear which direction it was coming back from. The Swiss precision team had their performance narrated in English which was nice. Odd that of all the languages the Swiss speak, the only one they had in common with the Swedes was English. 2 gliders did a routine to Sting's Fields of Gold, but it wasn't him singing and it was a nicer arrangement. By the time the Italian fighter team (like the Snowbirds) were on, we were walking back to the car, and watched them zoom right past us from the parking lot / field. Wow.
All of this took place at the Aeromuseum, an underground bunker the Swedish used during the cold war. They had most of it closed off, but what we did see was pretty neat. I will go back when my parents come over because I think my dad would enjoy it.
All things considered, it was a great day, but from here on, no more shorts (!!!!!!) only turtlenecks and parkas. If we go next year, I will be sure to wear my rainboots for the puddles and the mud.
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