Day 99 - Seasonal

 SEASONAL

Prompt - Seasonal : Write about your favourite season.

Favourite?  Do I have a favourite?  There's a lot to be said for them all.  Their pleasures are so varied, both climatically and in terms of what cultural activities are on offer.  (Albeit less so over the past twelve months, where the changing weather has acquired a more prominent role in marking the passing of the days...)  But if I ws being pushed to choose I'd probably go for Winter.

Of course Spring offers the chance to get out more, the sense of rebirth that comes with daffodils and blossom and new foliage, a time to get the walking boots out and pile on a bit of mileage.  In previous years it would also have signalled the start of the city's festival season, starting with Tradfest.  But Spring feels tentative, a period of transition rather than having a real identity.

Summer means more time outside, more and more to do.  All those festivals would usually be there, and may be again next year (or perhaps even in reduced form in 2021?), with so much new film, music, comedy and drama to go see.  But the city is also full of tourists who get in the way and make progress so slow.  

Autumn signals the start of the rugby season (and, in happier times, that would once have been hockey season) so it's a period of optimism.  The big festivals are over, but there would still be plenty of gigs etc to attend.  But it's another 'nothing' season, as the colours of the trees change and fade, the streets start to become quieter, the nights start to 'draw in', and the warmer clothes can start to be considered.

Winter is the solid base of our times.  Hopefully there will be snow - I love walking in snow.  The weather becomes both friend and foe, a constantly changing, and sometimes treacherous, companion that needs to be listened to, and the mixing and matching of clothing that goes along with that.  I like knowing I'm going to get to wear more layers, have the cold weather coats and scarves and gloves and hats out again, more choices to make, more fun in those choices.  The year ends, the year begins.  A time of looking back, and of looking forward.  Of what's been done, and what's to be done.  A sense of sweeping clean, of promises and hopes.  People complain about Winter, because it's cold and wet and dark.  But that feels more like home to me.  That's my Scotland.  The one with hope for the future in it.