Dressing for the Weather

 

Image by Bing Image Creator

As I can't take photos of myself walking in the snow, I asked Bing for help. It actually provided me with some surprisingly realistic illustrations.

Still around -11°C here around noon today, but no wind, so didn't feel too bad. When this cold, it's actually also less slippery than when closer to 0° (freezing point). So I decided to try a somewhat longer walk than yesterday, to post a couple of cards at the main post office down by the railway. 

I've been getting so many comments on my recent winter-themed blog posts, to be careful and just stay in etc, that I thought perhaps I'd better show you how one actually dresses for cold Swedish winter...

First of all: layers! I have a long, padded skirt that I can use on top of my trousers in cold weather - a lot simpler than putting on long underpants underneath.

This is my warmest padded winter coat to the right; and to the left my warmest leather gloves (lined with fur inside) - and my walking poles. (Each with a steel "spike" at the bottom end - in summer covered with a rubber foot, but those I take off in winter.)

These are my winter boots for icy streets - with both steel and rubber studs all over the sole.

Scarf, warm hat + hood up...
Ready at last for my winter walk!

 And after all that... It really usually feels like I might just as well continue at least a little bit further than just the few metres to the rubbish bins... ;-) (Today I was out for about 45 min.)

Some buildings I passed on my way back home. I only stopped in one spot for a couple of photos, as that's a bit of a hassle in the cold - with gloves and poles, and getting the phone out of the handbag, etc etc... 

These are the two first Postcrossing cards that I received in 2024. The card on the left was sent from Baltimore in the US, but had been bought in Ireland, according to the sender. And the one on the right was sent by a 7 year old (!) boy in Moscow, Russia - neatly written in English, but still did look like a child's handwriting, so I do think he'd written it himself. (I think the printed text on the front of the card says Happy New Year in Russian.) 

So... I was inspired to also write my first two Postcrossing cards for 2024, and those went to  Taiwan and the Netherlands respectively. And it was those I went out to post today. One profile had Christmas cards on their wishlist; and the other said they liked snowy landscapes, and art from the writer's country... I was able to oblige! ;-)