Ruth Lehtomäki may have finally learned to appreciate Finnish winters. It only took eighteen years . . .

“Say NO to sNOw!” This is what I read in January when I checked what mundane entries my friends had entered in their Facebook status updates. This one had not been written by a Finnish friend, and neither was it from a foreigner living on Finnish soil. It had been written in England and echoed what many of my fellow countryfolk were feeling by then. When the white stuff first started falling everyone had been happy because it was going to be a White Christmas. The following entry was even poetic about the snow’s arrival. “Crisp ice beneath foot, snowy scenes, blue sky, winter sunshine, Sunday pleasure!”

Foreigners being introduced to the ways of the British are advised that the weather is always a safe topic for conversations. Well, the last months saw the reason for this advice blooming in a big way. Messages have been full of praises and laments about snow. However, the former kind were very quickly overshadowed by the latter. A few examples follow, minus the numerous symbols, low case “I”s, abbreviations, misspellings, bad grammar and personal information, which doesn’t need to be shared with the entire Helsinki Times-reading population:

“We have more snow than we know how to handle. Schools are shut and many people aren’t getting into work. The main roads are much improved, but the side roads are really slippery and thick with snow and ice. We need to learn from Finland about coping with snow.”

“It’s a bit like Finland here with everything covered in snow and temperatures down to -13C. We were snowed out of Village X as we were unable to get home from Town Y and had to stay overnight with Friend Z. Still, no doubt compared with what you are having, this is a heat wave.”

“We are experiencing some real Scandinavian weather at the moment with 15cm of snow today, which is most unBritish. We can’t cope really and it’s gone past a joke. I ordered some snow chains for our car, but they haven’t arrived yet.”

One succinct entry was “I’m fed up with the snow”, followed by comments from around the world. The list ended though, when a British expat in Australia wrote – “You should be enjoying it. I wish there was some here as I can’t do Christmas in the sun. Why wasn’t it a white one last year when I was home?”

Others continued to complain however, as I stared out of my window on a -27C day at the trees laden with snow sparkling in the wintry sunshine. “Can’t believe it’s snowing again”, “Sounds like you’re fed up with the snow”, “Just a little!”, “The snow is getting a bit old now and it’s very hard to walk on the paths”, “I think the rain on Saturday should clear it”, “I suddenly like the rain!”. One day later – “Never been so pleased to see the rain!”

So now they had passed from talking about the snow and had returned to another favourite topic for the 365-days-a-year umbrella-carrying folk of the UK – rain. I think I would rather stick with the snow for these dark months and keep my complaints until April, when I will be really fed up with the stuff too.