Very sorry to hear this mate. A bloke I work with lost his wife and it does make it all the more real for us. Condolences.
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- Thread starter Gutwrench
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Indeed. It’s someone else’s grief until it hits you.
We're at -15° celsius right now, and boy howdy I need to find my long johns since it's apparently supposed to get even colder next week.
I like winter, always have, and when the temps hover around -10 or -15 that's generally enough for me nowadays. Sure it can get a lot colder in the northern parts of the country, but I remember there being temps of around -30 on a specific New Year's Eve maybe 20 years ago where I lived, and it was manageable. Cold as all hell, but manageable, and somehow really hard to imagine now.
Looking forward to summer, or more specifically spring, myself as well.
A wonderfully diverse country for sure, and I'm sure you will like it if you do end up visiting. People always say "we welcome you with open arms", and while that's true in the figurative sense when it comes to Finns, we often times like to keep a "healthy" distance to others. At least at first, but any "ice" that's there is pretty easy to break.
Well I found that Finns are less superficial in that respect, once you break in they are warm and kind people.
One thing that never fails to amuse me that comes as somewhat of a shock to many of my foreign friends is that if you ask us how we're doing or how it's going, we might actually end up telling you, be it good or bad. A crazy concept for some, apparently.
But yes, by and large we're an amicable bunch.
Not in the U.K. We will tell you we are fine even if we’re not. Stiff upper lip and all that.
Most people in the US are also inclined to simply respond that we're "fine, thanks," and say, "and how are YOU?" regardless of what actually might be going on, but there ARE a few who actually will bluntly state the honest truth about how they're feeling and what's happening in their lives.
Earlier this afternoon I heard honking, looked out and saw a lone Canada goose out in the middle of the icy lake. As I watched him, I realized that he was actually pretty much trapped by the underlying ice and had difficulty trying to move around in the icy water that was slowly melting on the surface of the ice; he couldn't get up on the ice, nor could he swim due to the ice beneath him, and he couldn't get the needed momentum to fly out of there. He raised his head and plaintively honked again, but no one came to his rescue. I felt so sorry for the little guy!
He tried biting at the ice to break a path for himself, and eventually was able to turn around and try to head in the direction where there was open water, and I cheered him on as he made his slow progress, plowing his way through the ice and surface water. At last he made it to a point where he could break through and finally swim freely again. Whew! I didn't know where the rest of the gang was or why/how he happened to be all by himself out there. Later I saw a few geese on the common ground area near the townhouses across the lake from us, and I hope he was with them!
He tried biting at the ice to break a path for himself, and eventually was able to turn around and try to head in the direction where there was open water, and I cheered him on as he made his slow progress, plowing his way through the ice and surface water. At last he made it to a point where he could break through and finally swim freely again. Whew! I didn't know where the rest of the gang was or why/how he happened to be all by himself out there. Later I saw a few geese on the common ground area near the townhouses across the lake from us, and I hope he was with them!
Watching the Puppy Bowl before the Super Bowl, it is usually better than the Super Bowl. I like both teams and hope it is a well-played game. The wings and snacks are ready along with a few Stellas.
Yeah, I'm very familiar with how it is over there. And it would be dumb of me to say that sometimes "fine" isn't indeed the best possible answer not matter if true or not, so I'm not going to do that.
And just to be clear, we don't unload our entire lives on every stranger that says "hello, how are you today?", that's not what I meant. Just that all of the general chit chat, meaningless small talk and such? I can't obviously speak for an entire nation, but many of us just aren't that interested in that most of the time. Or maybe that's just me, it's been a while since the last time I've actually seen other people...
The Australian equivalent would be "Ow're you goin'?" and the response is "Orright, mate", meaning that any further enquiries are "None of your bl**dy business!".
We're sort of friendly, once you've shown your value to humanity by buying us a round of drinks.
Ordered Turbotax and am thinking about getting the annual income tax returns thing started and done so that'll be finished up. Every year I always dread this process but fortunately it really isn't as bad as it could be since we do have software like Turbotax which does a lot of the "heavy lifting" so to speak (i.e., the math!). I am one who likes to do the taxes early rather than waiting until April.
Just got news that a friend of mine who I have known for several years, a friend that truly welcomed me into the community I live in and introduced me to many new friends, has passed away due to Covid. May he rest in peace, and may this Covid sh-t be soon behind us.
So sorry to hear this, Yaxomoxay! More sad news. COVID-19 is such a vicious disease! The sooner everyone can be vaccinated the better!
Well I can completely empathise with your situation. My condolences. It really is a terrible disease. A complete lottery.
My condolences.
Very sorry to read this.
It is a horrible condition, a really terrible thing.
Rendering some shadow catchers; it's cool how identifiable some products are despite just being shadows.
My condolences, and may that last sentence be a reality sooner rather than later.