Cold Weather

We had a few days of winter last week, after weeks of unseasonably mild weather (notwithstanding the wild wind and rain storms, of course). The cold days were lovely because it was sunny and not too windy so I could still enjoy my lunchtime walks. I think the daytime temperatures were only around -3 but my face had that stiffness that feels like your mouth is being pulled downwards by the cold.

It's interesting to observe the way people dress in such weather. There are the sensible elderly ladies wearing tweed skirts, thick stockings and stout shoes, topped off with the "good" woollen coat they bought at Jenners 20 years ago and a wee woolly hat. The hats are always a rose or mauve colour for some reason. These women look exactly like all the teachers I had in secondary school. (One of my teachers, Miss Ritchie, who was in her late fifties, wore the same two tweed suits during my time with her in the late 1960's - one heather-coloured, the other a blue and cream plaid - when my cousin went to the same school seven years before. She wore white blouses buttoned up to the neck, with a cameo at the throat, and her grey hair was pulled back into a braided bun at her neck. Not a trace of make-up or other adornment. She was only a few years older than I am now).

In contrast, there are the young women with jeans worn so low on their hips, you wonder how they can possibly stay up. These are always worn with scanty little tops, of course, revealing vast amounts of bare flesh. Some more vast than others, with a doughnut-like ring of pale goose-pimpled belly swelling over the waistband of the low-rise jeans. The irony of this outfit is the cropped padded jacket, barely reaching the naked waist, but well insulated at the neck with fake fur. These fashionistas can be spotted teetering along Princes Street in 5-inch stilettos, smoking, talking into their mobiles and constantly tugging at the too-short top because their bellies are freezing. You see them at bus stops shivering violently. As a young woman, I didn't learn to dress for the weather until I nearly froze to death during my first winter in Calgary because wearing a coat over my suit would have spoiled the "look". I was 18 years old and the weather that day was probably around -30.

My niece's husband, who grew up on the mild south coast of England, said that the cold wind here is the reason Scots wear a permanent scowl. This has a ring of truth when you see crowds of people rushing along the street, huddled into their coats, grimacing at the cold and wind in their faces. The light here has a coldness to it that accentuates the naturally pale skin of a lot of Scots, making them look drawn and ill, with shadows under their eyes. Of course, there's a lot of smoking and drinking going on here, which could account for that pasty-faced look.

I often see women, of all ages, trying to cover up their pale Scottish skin by using heavy tan-coloured foundation, enhanced by too much bronzer. This makeup probably looked great in the summer but it's incongruous in this cold light and freezing weather. Especially if the belly hanging over the waistband is blue with cold.