View from the Other Side...the multiple sides of the weather

by Nancy Halverson, Feature Writer

One of the main advantages that we wanted when we came to England was to head out to Europe whenever we could. We jumped across to Spain last week. It's a very English thing to do—there are many many many English vacationers always going to the Costas. Luckily we have friends who just moved to the Costa Blanca...a little town called Denia. Right on the Mediterranean with mountains around, palm trees, as well as pebble or sand beaches.

An Escape from the Rain to Spain

It's a wonderful place, Spain—I've always wanted to go there. And even though it was November, and it wasn't the warmest weather, it was great to get out of the rain for a week. We're now planning a trip in the summer. The fact that it's overrun by the English in the summer is a little daunting, but we're going to try to get a place near our friends and just spend as much time as we can in the mountains and on the beaches. 

An Aside About English Holiday-Makers

English holiday-makers can behave more like Spring-break college kids at Daytona. After all, it was here that the 'pub crawl' originated. It's a generalization I know, but believe me, it's been proven out in many many places! Plus, when we go away, we like to live in the real part of the country, without sausage and mash and English cooked breakfasts. Ryan and I have always loved to travel, and we've rarely returned to the same place, but we're really curious about how beautiful summertime Spain can be.

The Rain Follows Us

It was only a small part of Spain, but it's remarkable how much it affects you. When we landed, it was dry and sunny. A great switch from the dreary fall skies we left in England. It was a short-lived relief however, as we approached Denia (an hour's drive), it started to rain. And then it started to pour. Torrential waves of driving rain. Our friend was apologizing for hours—it hadn't rained for a few weeks, and was hot and sunny practically until our arrival. We seem to collect unusual weather events, and love to see how different places react in unexpected weather. We're weird that way.

The Sunshine Returns

The weather cleared the next day, and we enjoyed a great week walking and riding in sunshine. We drove up to Valencia and toured their new aquarium—one of those that you walk through. Fantastic, even if we couldn't understand the Spanish commentary. You can understand what's going on in a dolphin show in any language.

A Mix of the Old and the New

Spain won our hearts because of the sunshine, landscapes, and the wonderful mixture of old and new. There are lots of old buildings and, of course, narrow little streets, but there's also newly built ones that keep an old style. And, thank goodness, the Spanish architects also excel at modern, clean looking buildings as well. It's an amazing place, and we're looking forward to going back.

Reality and Snow

As for getting back to reality, we had snow here in Sheffield last Thursday afternoon. Not just a few flakes, it actually turned into real snow. Not to paint with too wide a brush, but the English generally don't do well in snow. It's understandable really, the driving test demands that everyone use their brakes in strange ways, and you're not allowed to gear down to stop. People also routinely use their parking brake at stoplights, or to stop on hills—making it a little more dramatic to start moving again. And, of course, no one uses brushes or scrapers on their icy windshields. We kept our windshield brush naturally (as well as our snow shovel!) but most Brits use this weird green spray stuff to get rid of ice and snow on their cars. I've even seen people taking kettles out and pouring hot water on their windshield— lucky for them, they don't actually crack.

Anyway, travel in the car when it snows is tragically slow. An hour and a quarter to do a 15 minute drive. It's even more difficult to believe, since there was no snow on the ground. It's the sight of snow that scares them the most, I guess.

Big and Little Kids

We live in the hilly part of town, up almost 300 feet from the city centre. By the time we got home, there were a couple of inches on the ground. It was a winter wonderland—and so early in the season! The trees, street, flowers and houses were all white. Ryan wanted to know where our kids were, and why they weren't outside playing in the snow. He was so disappointed to discover that the nanny wouldn't let the kids out to play—she'd worn shoes that wouldn't be good in the snow and wouldn't be able to be outside with them. We tossed them into winter gear and threw them out to play. They had a blast, as did we—it's impossible for Canadians to not enjoy snow if they haven't seen much of it in the past few years (well, us anyway). Even Ryan had a little fun—difficult for him, since he's on crutches. Slippery stuff snow, when you're trying to move with metal poles and a set of bare toes.

"Let it Snow" Mentality

We woke up to snow the next morning as well, breathtaking white against clear blue sky. Okay, so I'm a little biased, but it's so great to see when you're away from home! I walked the kids to school with the crunch crunch of boots on dry snow. During the night, the powdery snow fell blanketing the wet snow of the previous day, and it felt great! When I got back from taking the kids, I had to drive along the icy streets (there are no snowplows in England) and hope that the hills were covered in sand (the 'gritting lorries' had been out on main roads). Traffic was remarkably tolerable, and we weren't as long in our commute as we had been the night before. I arrived at work to find all my colleagues made it in without problem—most of the region didn't actually get snow, just the higher bits like our neighbourhood. So they teased me that I was late. The Canadian can't cope with the snow. Yeah, right! I just got distracted and had some fun in it, that's all!!

A Work Update

So, my work continues at a thousand miles an hour. We're on the cusp of a major release, and I've got a reference manual, online help and other bits and bobs to produce, as well as putting together the company intranet. It's always a busy time of year, and each year we plan to get ahead somehow, but it never happens. I keep on taking it upon myself to create doc formats that provide information of a different sort, and then I have to produce the information myself. Content creation is my middle name it seems—I'm not happy to leave well enough alone. Must be some kind of disease. Oh well, as long as the information gets to where it's needed, and the users and my bosses are happy with it, I figure I'm doing well.

Upcoming Holidays 

Enjoy your holidays everyone—the end of the year's fast approaching and I hope that you're all going to have a great December. I'm hoping that Software Santa brings me FrameMaker 7.1, and Acrobat 6/7, and Robohelp X5.

About Nancy Halverson

Nancy grew up in Toronto, but has lived in Ottawa, Melbourne, Waterloo, and now Sheffield. She has travelled through the South Pacific, Australia and Indonesia, which is where she met her husband, Ryan Wilson (another Canadian), along the way. A career switch introduced her to the STC in 1997. Her writing experience has included several contract positions and a position at Inscriber for several years. She has two daughters and has been living in England for two years.