White Versailles

Being the respectable immigrant that I am, I am regularly bitching about the Versailles' weather and some of my blog readers haven't escaped from reading it in the past either. Everyone who comes from a sunny or a continental temperate country is hit by the same difficulty in getting used with the eternal grey, sad sky and in every respect the desolate weather we have in here - not counting in the rain (119 days of rain a year on average, tells us Météo France, that is about one in three days!). But I need blue sky and sun and starry nights: it's in my genes and there's nothing I can do about it! One must possess a great dose of natural optimism, a loving entourage and a busy life if they want to escape the inescapable weather blues (which will add up to the inescapable culture shock eventually).


I can only think of one exception to that rule and this is winter. Yes, I know, while I'm doing the happy dance I will still bitch about the shorter days, just to keep myself in shape, but nevertheless the winter weather in Versailles is exactly as I always wished a winter to be: temperatures over 0°C most of the times (6°C on average), sometimes even around 10°C: thanks a million, Gulf Stream for such a nice autumn in winter! Adieu and farewell freezing -10...-20°C from my childhood and public transportation on its knees and muddy dirty streets when defrost came! (and that was going on for some 3-4 looong months in that part of the world...).

In the perfect Versailles winters we have the right to one or two weeks of snow every couple of years for the great joy of children (and me! The other adults don't seem as enthusiastic about it, to be honest...). Look what we had yesterday and a couple of days before:

Oh, and *major* news: spring is just around the corner! Today was the tree trimming day (and the employee-showing-up-unexpectedly-right-outside-my-window-to-do-the-tree-trimming day, and I have no curtains, of course, and I only noticed it when the saw started to make its lovely noise scaring the bejesus outta me and, by that moment, the employee was long up his ladder taking discreet glimpses at my apartment with yours truly inside. Thanks God I wasn't naked or somethin'!...)