Yes, So It's Winter - Yet Again...

Oh, the joys of Winter! I remember at one point before retirement, indeed, even before 2010, I sat on a low wall on a particularly cold day. The ladders lay on the sidewalk, the bucket of warm water also stood nearby. There I sat, shivering with cold, yet a strong sense of envy was eating me up and draining my energy from work. And it was only ten in the morning.

That's the advantage of having been a self-employed domestic window cleaner. Under my own steam, I can just sit there and indulge in my own despot of envy, allowing vivid images of the check-in desk at Heathrow Airport, and visualising four people preparing to board their flight to Singapore. As I sat there alone, at least for once I was grateful for not sitting in a busy office under the eye of a controlling bully of a boss. Instead, as it was, I was able to sit alone at a quiet housing estate, mulling at my thoughts and comparing the expectations of these four, consisting of two courting couples, with my own past experiences of world travel.

Window Cleaning, my former trade.

The two young men I knew personally. They were lifeguards of a local leisure pool in which features the spa suite, a facility I visited regularly every week, and my patronage there going as far back as 1992. One of them, Adam by name, was so proficient and so well skilled at his job, that he featured in our local newspaper, The Bracknell News. as the centre's best ever lifeguard. It was he, along with another mate and their girlfriends, who quit his job as a lifeguard to take a sabbatical Round-the-World backpacking trip featuring Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.

Weeks of buildup led to that day, with Adam and I being friends on Facebook, I was able to post my own RTW experiences on the social site. But as I sat there mulling over my thoughts, I was wondering how sensitive some people could be. Here was a proficient lifeguard whose knowledge on lifesaving wasn't far below that of a paramedic, when he got offended with my jokey comment that the Sea Wasp is a jellyfish and not an insect. 

As a result, he quickly severed his ties with me, or "unfriended" me, and it has always remained a mystery to me how I had offended him. However, he did deliver some public posts informing us all that although he loved the Australian Pacific Coast, he wasn't impressed with New Zealand. As for the Great Barrier Reef, I can't recall any mention of it. Had his awareness of the Sea Wasp stung his usual confidence in the water? And to add to this, my realisation that Queensland during its summer months is subject to monsoons. Bah! No matter how hard I tried to shake off my envy of them by thinking about these things, I could still feel it.

Eventually, I got around the situation, got up and resumed work. Coming to think of it, the expenditure of physical energy cleaning windows is psychologically benefiting as well as keeping blood flowing through the muscles and creating body heat, a good combatant against cold weather. The Sea Wasp, better known as box jellyfish with their deadly sting, are in abundance at that time of the year. However, it's their inclusion of New Zealand basking in summer sunshine that has aroused my envy, with the salt of unfriending me just before take-off, adding to the wound.

On that particular day, I was working at an estate which has a high number of senior citizens. Throughout my business, I saw that pensioners made the best customers. I had found them to be more warm-hearted towards this lone itinerant tradesman, more generous with coffee and a biscuit, in addition, they were more trusting when allowing me into their kitchens to refill my pail, and they were never hesitant with payment or unnecessarily delaying to pay me. A few even got me to sit at their table after all their windows were cleaned, for coffee, a sandwich and a good chat. With such a friendly environment they gave me, it didn't take long for me to forget about those boys flying halfway around the world.

But working outdoors during winter was challenging. There was one street where nearly all its residents were at work, leaving each property empty of people, although an occasional dog barked. During the summer or when the air was mild, I was okay with that. But I recall one bitterly-cold Winter's day. With everyone out, I served one empty property after another. There was no source of fresh hot water. Indeed, I felt my hands turn blue with the cold as I kept on dipping them in cold, dirty water. I recall then packing everything away and going home early, during mid-afternoon. A refill with hot, clean water would have made all the difference!

And now, I read in a national newspaper that there is such thing as the most depressing day of the year, and it's either a Monday or a Tuesday in early January. I never heard of that before. I wonder where they got that from? However, perhaps the thought of the next quarter of long nights, short days, cold weather, the threat of a thin layer of snow bringing the country to a halt...

If that didn't have such an impact on our lives, I guess I would see the funny side. If the Council - heaven forbid - should forget to grit the roads beforehand or have not watched the Met Office forecast, then the chaos resulting when roads and their intersections turn into skid pans... hardly worth thinking about. Furthermore, trains were known to become marooned and even aeroplanes may not be able to take off. The fear or concern generated by the threat of a snowflake falling makes any anticipation for Spring more intense, along with catching flu or even a common cold, those dark days, long nights and the chilly wind from the Northeast - they all come around, year in, year out, but with the universal surprise it brings, I sometimes wonder whether it's the first time I realise that this cold season is annual.

Coral Reef Sauna Suite, my haunt since 1992.

Perhaps, it's since during Winter here in the UK, it's not every day that I open the bedroom curtains first thing in the morning to see a layer of falling snow covering our garden lawn, and lining the branches of the surrounding trees and bushes spectacularly. Yet, despite all the inconveniences posed upon modern transportation, such a wintry scene is so beautiful, so spectacular. The brilliance of the snow reflecting all the daylight back into the air makes even the contrast with the dull, overcast sky quite notable. Should the sky clear and the sun comes out, then how dazzling the scene is when romanticised into Christmas card fantasy.

And so I ponder at the mode of transport before the invention of the steam engine when horses ruled the day. These mammals were not afraid of the snow, they were able to pull the cart as easily as any Summer's day. No wheels were spinning on an icy patch while the vehicle remains stationary with the engine revving, filling the air behind it with a cloud of toxic fumes. There were no traffic queues stuck on the motorway with drivers phoning their bosses with an apology and a lame explanation why they will be late - if ever arriving at all. No, the guy sitting in a horsedrawn chariot overtakes them all as his beast trots happily along with the snow, leaving a trail of hoof-marks and cartwheel tracks behind.

Yet, from my bedroom window, I can admire the view of the snow-covered garden and ponder on why this stuff is so brilliantly white while any rainwater forming a puddle on concrete or on anything non-porous is as clear as crystal. Indeed, anyone who is good scientific knowledge can explain how water, when it freezes into accumulated snowflakes turns the whole scene brilliant white rather than remaining clear, yet even science can fail to explain why this happens, the beauty of each flake as it falls to the ground, each flake unique in itself, every one different - despite the vast numbers of them needed to cover a large field.

All this causes me to thank and glorify God for his creation rather than curse my fate at the steering wheel. Not that I can drive anyway - I have never owned a car driving licence, let alone a car itself. But as the snow on the road turns into dirty slush by a combination of partial melting and traffic pollution, I can't help but to wish away everything frozen, except ice cream of course, and long for Spring to arrive. After all, one of the positives to ponder on during this cold season is that the winter solstice is already behind us and the days are already becoming longer and the nights shorter. Furthermore, the Earth is at its perihelion, that is, it's closer to the sun in its orbit. No wonder Down Under, the Aussies has to apply a liberal amount of suncream on their bronzed torsos, else that dreaded mole will start burying into the skin, indicating Melanoma.

And so, another Winter's day arrives and with it, The Daily Mail national newspaper carries a story on two of its inside pages:

£44m Brexit success story to make Remoaners choke on their sea bass.*

The two-page article was written by journalist Robert Hardman in his How I see it series of articles. Checking on the text itself, Hardman himself does not use the word Remoaners, but Remainers. As far as the mechanics of the Press goes, the writer doesn't title his contribution. Rather, that's done by the editors. That is, by the newspaper itself. Indeed, I'm tempted to ask them, Is the Winter chill addling your brains?

As one who voted my support to remain in the European Union, the use of the word Remoaner in 2cm high lettering is an insult. I find it insulting because the word is purely detrimental. Furthermore, this isn't merely between two people talking in private. Rather, it's for the whole world to read.

And so, as the cold winter wind blows and blizzards are driven across the UK, those who voted to leave the EU will, sooner or later, find something to prove their point. And when one item is found, so the gloating begins. They look down on us Remainers with a condescending look as they turn up their noses, and if that's not enough, they then publicly insult us! Not a nice Christian attitude, is it? I wonder how Jesus would have reacted had he been around at present?

Earlier in the week, I emailed a message to two Christian people with a suggestion that an unclean spirit in the air has influenced Brexiteers with such subtlety, according to Ephesians 6:12, that even committed Christians who want to serve the Lord were also hoodwinked. With one of the recipients, that didn't go down well. But then, when I emailed those two, the headline hadn't yet appeared. 

Traffic slowed down by snow.

In an analogical sense, with the pandemic, lockdowns, hospitalisations, along with xenophobic, even racist attitudes, including physical and verbal violence, thus driving many Europeans back to their homelands, indeed, it's been a bleak winter - one that lasted for the past two years.

If we're about to go over the hill with the pandemic, at least there is, at last, hope that Spring is on its way.

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*Daily Mail Newspaper, Saturday, January 8th 2022, pages 50-51.

The Beauty of a Whiteout.

According to some reports, people living in Canada and in Scandinavia were poking fun at us within the last few days, sending memes on Twitter and other social sites. These memes were all about "the two centimetres of snow which brought Britain to a grinding halt." I suppose we need to be honest with ourselves: We are not used to coping with snow. Even a light dusting poses a threat, because we British just don't know afterwards which direction the weather will take. Whether the light dusting will melt as a result of milder air beginning to blow in from the Atlantic, or whether the icy cold northeasterly blast from Siberia will keep on blowing across the North Sea indefinitely as it collects more moisture from the sea which is then dumped across the UK as snow.

It was on one of these occasions when my wife posted on Facebook her idea of road transport reverting to horse power and donkeys transporting both us and our baggage to our destinations. Unfortunately, she did not receive a single "like" - which seems to be an indication bordering onto the ridiculous and impracticality. With such a present scenario with marooned lorries, cars and trains, maybe the idea of being mocked by Canadians and Scandinavians alike may bear an element of justification after all.

If only one has to consider being stranded inside a car overnight whilst attempting to drive to his destination only a few miles down the road, and then actually getting stuck in the snow and forced to spend the whole night in the vehicle. Indeed, the riddle of the race between the hare and the tortoise would not be that far out of place here. Just as a team of huskies would successfully transport a heavily-laden sleigh with people and their cargo to their destination across vast Canadian plains of ice and snow to arrive in good time, so over here, by the time dusk arrives, not only is the person and his belongings are safe at where he wants to be, but the horse or pony is also safely back at its stable. Indeed, there is more sense in my wife's statement than credited for.

Or for me, walking seems an adequate way to get about in adverse weather conditions. As a cyclist, when I have realised that the bicycle and snow does not make good companions, nothing is better than to slip on a pair of tough hiking boots and set off on foot. And if the overcast sky breaks and the Winter sun comes out, I find it exhilarating on the startling beauty of freshly-fallen snow glinting in the sunlight, making a vivid contrast to the blue sky above. And not just on the ground, but also on the boughs and branches of trees, and even the normally dull rooftops of houses are enhanced by the sheer beauty of crystalline whiteness of the snow glistening in the sun.

And I don't think it was accidental when God created both beast and man alike with legs rather than with wheels. Quite a clever ingenuity, coming to think of it. Legs are far more efficient in moving across snow than wheels, even motorised wheels. Little wonder that at the Terra Nova cross-Antarctic Expedition, it was history's first ever man, Norwegian Roald Amundsen who arrived at the South Pole in December 14, 1911. This was five weeks before rival Briton Robert Scott's arrival. Clever Amundsen! He used a team of huskies to transport him and his gear. Scott relied on wheels and powered vehicles for transport, and tragically lost the race. Very much like over here at present!

I guess we are very fortunate to have the warm Gulf Stream flowing from the Gulf of Mexico, past the Caribbean Islands, towards Britain and Europe. This, to me, is a constant work of God's mercy and goodness, and an important means to sustain life. This stream keeps our Winters mild. Of course, scientists are able to explain how the Gulf Stream operates by means of the Earth's rotation and other necessary forces involved in its existence, but it still stands as one of God's magnificent designs to suit the present.

Therefore, in general we in Britain are unable to cope with a more severe bout of snowfall. As with the Scandinavians, over there snowfall is normal, and I guess, plenty of it. As geology has it, the Danish peninsula is the ultimate landmass blocking the Gulf Stream from warming up the Gulf of Bothnia, bordered by the east coast of Sweden and the west coast of Finland respectively. As a result, this particular tongue of sea not only has the lowest salt content in the world, but freezes over during the Winter months, unlike the Norwegian Sea, where a weak remnant of the Gulf Stream keeps this area short of freezing over.

Therefore, I can't really hold blame to the Scandinavians for their mocking of our inability to handle snow. They are far more used to it. And they are better prepared when travelling. Although I have never visited Scandinavia (a pity, really), I do believe that the main difference between Winter motoring in Sweden to that of in Britain is the universal use of car tyres used by the Swedes adapted to the snow and ice, all of them fitted during Autumn with the expectation of the coming snow season. Like that they can drive safely all year round.

But our British inability to cope with Winter snow does not dampen or minimise our sense of optimism and self-confidence. Despite warnings after warnings of heavy snowfall and gale force winds, motorists continue to climb into their cars. With enough self confidence and optimism enabling them to complete the journey with hardly a hitch, they set off, even while it's already snowing heavily. And when they hit the motorway or trunk road, each driver gets stuck in a traffic jam which remains stationary even throughout the entire night, and then the need to be rescued and even treated for hypothermia.

Oh to hell with the warnings! It's only a smidgen of snow. I'll get where I want to be. It's no problem.

And such words remain within the mind of the driver, so confident, so optimistic. Exactly like the chap I have been privately messaging shortly before this blog was written. Always a good friend of mine, he has expressed such tremendous confidence and optimism over the future of Britain after we had left the European Union. He even re-initialised GB to mean GLOBAL BRITAIN whereas GB initially stood for Greater Britain, and therefore with his new meaning to those two letters, I have interpreted as meaning world dominance, even though he may deny that. However, according to a Guardian newspaper psychologist, there is a connection between Brexit and the quest for global power, not unlike that of the former Empire, as the spirit of imperialism lies dormant within the genes of the most patriotic. In referral to my friend, this guy is also a regular church-going Christian and one-time house-group leader around the early 1980's.

Choleric in temperament and therefore naturally task-minded and pragmatic, it is equally natural for him to be optimistic and confident, which also gives him a certain level of difficulty in fathoming out more abstract or theoretical ideas and notions. (And for the record, any settlements, homes, schools, shopping precincts, industry, public transport, roads, and many more projects were most likely all envisioned initially by a Choleric. Therefore their presence in this world are beneficial for necessary living.)

Therefore he couldn't understand how I could link his nationalistic self-confidence with Charles Darwin. So I wrote to explain that there is no real difference between world dominance and the Edenic Lie. If the Bible is to be taken as historic, then the story of the Edenic Lie and the Fall are also history. In the third chapter of Genesis, the Serpent entices Eve to eat the fruit of a certain tree which God instructed not to eat from. In further coaxing, the serpent gives a false promise that by eating the fruit would open their eyes of understanding, and become like gods knowing good and evil, and in effect calling God a liar for saying they would die instead. Eve fell for the deceit because she found the idea of becoming divine very attractive, and gave some of the fruit to Adam with the hope of the same elevation to godhood.

And here is the link between the Edenic Lie and Charles Robert Darwin with his theory of evolution. Evolution is all about the slow progress from single-cell organisms dwelling in the primeval ocean to homo sapiens living in cities, making progress in sophisticated technology, and continuing on the upward progress with the assumption towards divinity.

But there is a very serious fault with this theory. If evolution is true and historic and the Edenic Lie and the Fall mere mythology, then death did not come by Adam's transgression, as the Bible says otherwise. If death did not come from Adam's fall, then Jesus Christ was not able to overcome death by atonement and his resurrection, therefore making salvation an impossibility. The reality of Divine Creation, the Fall, and death entering the world through Adam's sin is absolutely vital for the reality of the Christian faith. There is no room for compromise. If there was no Adam and Eve, there was no Jesus Christ either.

Therefore it is quite straightforward to see a direct link between my Choleric friend's national pride, optimism, confidence, and his quest for global supremacy, with the Edenic Lie as recorded in the Bible. The want for global supremacy, even on a national scale, is nothing more than the Edenic Lie re-enacted over and over again. And in the spiritual realm, self-confidence and optimism could be fatally dangerous!

Such in the case of judgement day. On this subject, it is Jesus himself who prophetically teaches that at the door of heaven there will be many standing outside and refused admission. This is a really a scary situation and I believe this is a serious warning towards those with self-confidence and optimism. For the Lord included this in his sermon, using the AV for maximum impact:

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21-23.

I never knew you. I never knew you. I never knew you. And such words will echo in their heads for all eternity. What a dreadful thought that is, to be told that by the Lord himself, I never knew you. In my younger days I always thought: Wrong religion. Wrong kind of church service. Unable to shake off a specific sin. But I no longer believe it's any of those. By studying the defence these people use to plead for entry, a common theme emerges. Self-confidence, optimism. The deceit in believing that these guys can work their own way to heaven, even using the name of Christ. When alive, these people did not turn to Jesus to have their sins washed away and to receive forensic acquittal. Instead they trusted in their own natural abilities, using the name of Jesus to further their own quest for world fame, reputation and greatness, along with divinity, a state of godhood.

And so I write, the snow outside is now slowly melting. The wind has changed. The crisis has peaked. By Monday, commuters can travel to work by train, bus and car as normal. Schools will re-open. Offices will be fully staffed once more. The pulse of life will beat again. Optimism with Brexit will continue to be debated in Parliament. My friend will continue to be so sure of the future, perceived with a rosy optimism for national greatness and supremacy. Many church-goers will continue to revel in their own self-righteousness, thinking that they are doing God's will. The pulse of British life will beat on.

But with Charles Darwin's theory fully in charge of our minds, God will have to be left out altogether.