A nip in the air

So, the northern parts of the country have had the first snow of winter and there's more to come over the next few days which means we might get a light covering here in the west country. It never ceases to amaze me when people complain about the weather being cold, after all, it is winter so we should expect it to be cold.
When I was a child every winter was cold and we didn't have central heating in those days either. The windows were very often covered in frost and ice on the inside and also had the most amazing 'feathers' which we were told had been painted by Jack Frost. When I was very small I thought he must be incredibly clever to paint such beautiful designs! In the mornings it was so cold we could see our own breath in the bedroom and sometimes we would get dressed underneath the bedclothes then go down for breakfast. This was either porridge or bacon, egg and fried bread before going out to school, it certainly kept us warm.
I can remember being dressed in so many layers it was nothing short of a miracle that I could move at all. First there was a cream woollen vest, then a liberty bodice which was stuffed with 'thermogene' which was a treated cotton wool supposed to stop us from getting 'chesty'. On top of this was a school blouse followed by gymslip and cardigan. We had to wear horrible scratchy, voluminous navy blue knickers which had legs that could be pulled down over the tops of thick stockings kept up by elastic garters. When we went outside we were topped off by a coat which had the gloves threaded through the sleeves on a long plaited piece of wool so that we didn't lose them, a scarf was tied around our neck and we wore knitted woollen 'pixie' hats. I had so many layers on I'm sure I couldn't bend my arms and I must have weighed twice as much fully clothed!
We didn't really feel the cold as we were running about far more than the children of today. Most of our time was spent outside playing, we didn't have television until I was about ten but I still preferred to be outside with my friends. Even today I much prefer to be outside when I can and I don't have proper central heating, so when I'm indoors I just put on extra layers. In some ways, I'm rather glad that we get some good cold snaps because it gives me the chance to wear some of the thick jumpers that I've had for years so I'm glad I didn't send them off to the charity shops!