On a Winter's Day

It’s snowing! A cyclone over the Adriatic Sea is blessing us with lots of tiny flakes gliding down from a deep grey sky. In Graz we often get snow from the South, above all when humid air from the Mediterranean mixes with cold air from the continent. Since yesterday noon, above all during the night, the city has been covered with estimated 10 to 15 cm of crystallized frozen water. That’s not much compared to the snow blanket in the Alpine regions of Austria, but it’s more than enough for a city like Graz to sink into chaos. In January snowfalls aren’t much of a surprise really because we’re right in the middle of winter, and yet… I had hoped… 

Frankly, to my taste this season is too unfriendly and too wet and too cold. Grrr. Nothing but looking outside I’m getting goose bumps and a depression! Is it a surprise that I prefer dark clothes during winter although this can be very dangerous after nightfall? The low clouds, the often dim light and the cold temperatures seem to call for it. Maybe I’m driven by an old instinct to camouflage. At any rate vivid colours don’t feel right when the world is painted in black and white. In fact, a look out of the window is like watching a photo printed long ago when colour films were rare and cameras working without film at best a crazy idea of science-fiction writers.

I’d prefer to be tucked in my bed and fast asleep now until spring, but I’m not a marmot, nor a turtle, nor a hedgehog. As a matter of fact, I’m human and I am awake. Every morning I have to go to work and bear the freezing monochrome surroundings. At the moment the snow is fresh, clean and shining white – a beautiful sight! I admit –, but it will mix with the dirt and the dust all around in no time. Then the white splendour will turn into a disgusting brownish grey mass everywhere close to streets and pavements. It’s inevitable. Graz will remind me once more of the ugly industrial town of Coketown that Charles Dickens invented back in 1854 for his novel Hard Times 

The only practicable solution for me is to stay at home as much as I can while the conditions outside are such that I despise. It goes without saying that I don’t mind at all! I can hold on in silence, too. At least for a while provided that I get a chance to express myself in writing.

The Shadow of Wealth

On Christmas morning

Colourful paper and ribbons

Go to the dustbin.

25^th December – for me Christmas is over at last! Our unpretentious family dinner and the following distribution of presents were yesterday. That’s because tradition has it that in Austria celebrations start already on Christmas Eve at nightfall. That’s the time when the Christkind comes loaded with a richly decorated tree and with heaps of presents. Nowadays!

Until the second half of the past century it used to be quite empty under the often self-cut spruce or fir-tree with apples, nuts, straw stars, bows, and a few beeswax candles in the twigs. Presents were scarce and consisted of things that were desperately needed like a handmade scarf, a knitted hat or woollen mittens. In a good year a warm pull-over, a winter coat or a pair of shoes might have come out of the simple wrappings. People rejoiced at their presents because they knew that it hadn’t been granted that they would get anything at all for Christmas. In our small corner of the planet things have changed a lot since.

I grew up in the 1970s, at a time when the Christmas mania was already in its first or maybe second swing. For me it was natural to have everything that I needed in daily life and I could count on finding more than just one parcel for me lying under the tree. Yet, my presents were a great source of joy (also anticipated joy) because it was unthinkable that I would have been given any of them without the special occasion. Of course, I cared more for the toys and board games than for the occasional clothes that I received. After all, I had never felt a shortage of clothes!

These days many people, especially children expect to be showered with expensive toys and electronic gadgets that they could as well have at other times of the year. Often it’s a competition between the recipients of presents, too. Who will get the better, thus more expensive stuff? There’s nothing extraordinary about Christmas anymore and thus the joy is moderate. After the celebrations quite some of the presents disappear in a hidden corner, are traded in, find their way into internet auctions or are simply thrown away into the dustbin together with the glossy wrapping material.

For me Christmas has lost most of its magic: the happy smiles of those who unwrap a present and find something unexpected that they had yearned for and might never have had otherwise. Those smiles mean more to me than any object I could ever receive. Every year I’m disappointed and I’ve come to the conclusion that, economic crisis or not, most of us are too wealthy to appreciate the love and care behind every present.

In a nutshell: we don’t deserve Christmas if we continue to limit it to the number and value of our presents!