Summer

Jynx just phlogged[1] about disliking summer (also about buying a

bike, which is a great idea!).

Growing up in Australia I always really hated summer. It was easily

my least favourite season. It mostly just meant constant, unbearable

heat.

I'm now in the middle of my third Finnish summer, and my attitude

toward the season is changed entirely. It's not really too hard to

understand why. It's much easier to appreciate summer when it's

placed in contrast to a bitter winter, which obviously I never

experienced back home. It also just doesn't get that hot here. The

temperature has been hovering around the low 20s in Celsius (high 60s

to low 70s Fahrenheit) for the last two weeks or so and is forecast to

do so for the foreseeable future. But a third factor, and just as

important, is the light! It's not just that it stays light late, but

there is something magical about the quality of the light in the

evenings. The sun is low in the sky and the light comes in at a

gentle angle, giving everything a golden glow. It's a very intense

visual experience which in Australia would inevitably be closely

coupled to scorching heat but here it's totally comfortable weather to

be outside. I honestly love it! Past me would never believe I'd ever

confess to loving summer.

All year round, the seasonal variation is just so much more salient

here than anything I've experienced before.

[1] gopher://1436.ninja:70/0/Phlog/20190618.post