Whither winter?
By
Naguib Mahfouz
It is at precisely this time of the year that I begin to wonder just what has happened to passing of the seasons? This has, ironicaally enough, become something of a perennial question. Where has winter gone? I inevitably begin to wonder about these things when I notice winter slipping past almost before it has started, or at least before I have had time to notice that it has started.
The first third of what should have been this year's winter, for example, was simply an extension of summer. It is astonishing how much the weather has changed -- how much shorter winter has become; whether or not it is global warming and all that, I am hardly in a position to say. But there is no doubt that the climate has changed.
I have always loved the winter, as I find heat difficult to cope with and at an earlier age, as soon as the heat took hold, I would begin to suffer from seasonal allergies.
The cold of the winter, by contrast, I can stand, needing only to remind myself of the horrors of July and August. Nowadays, moreover, I'm seldom exposed to the weather as I'm either at home or in a friend's car. Coping with the cold, then, is even less of an issue. Yet it remains true that when you are cold, you can warm yourself up in various ways. For the summer heat, though, the only answer is air- conditioning, which I find even less hospitable than the heat itself.
The more winter shrinks, therefore, the more disappointed I tend to be in the climate
