I saw a catch up QI last night which said that it take 8 weeks for Spring to get from Lands End to John O'Grotes. I'd never really thought about seasons being later up here in Scotland, particularly since me moving further north has actually resulted in me experiencing sunnier Summers and less snow in the Winters. I grew up in a place often described as a weather 'black hole'. Being at a higher altitude than most of its neighbours, the town of Shotts in North Lanarkshire was notorious in the local area for having terrible weather. It was notorious for other things too, but I do believe that it had a worse rep than it deserved. Don't get me wrong, I'm not overly loyal to my home town. It was a large village really, with one high school, three primary schools (a separate one for the Catholics), one restaurant, a small supermarket (known locally as 'the Co'), and a train station on the line with the most stops in Scotland which connected it to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It would take you approximately and hour to walk from one end to the other, if you took your time. My school was small, only 700 pupils at the most and that was because 3.5 busloads came in from the 'surrounding areas' of Harthill, Eastfield, Allanton and Hartwood (the 0.5).
Parochial seems to be a term coined for Shotts. And yet, when I was a little girl it didn't seem small or limited, it made me think about how my world has shrunk in some ways and gotten bigger in others. I could never have had the freedom to walk around in Shotts that I do now, and I can pop into town for all sorts of things. Not needing to buy books, stationary or DVDs from the Co or take a bus to another town was a revelation which seriously dented my bank account when I got here.
But how do I know Spring is here, especially when the Daffodil crops in certain places in Englandshire are much behind schedule? I had to take my jacket off when I was walking home from work today, it was too warm
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