(Wednesday, 1 April 2020)
It appears to have snowed again overnight and the morning was also bitterly cold. But thankfully, the sun has again put in an appearance and clear blue skies have returned.
There’s nothing quite as inspiring first thing in the morning, as the view from our bathroom across the top of Bad Ischl (not that you can see it from here) to the Zimnitz range and the Leonberg (that’s the big one!). Of course, we don’t call it that, we call it ‘weather mountain’… cos that’s where the majority of the weather comes from… it’s logic innit?!
Our guests love that we call it this, we always tell them to keep an eye on ‘Weather Mountain’ because, more often than not, it will give you a more accurate forecast of what’s coming. Whatever is happening on Weather Mountain, comes to us about an hour later.. give or take. So it has its uses in our daily life, in more ways than one!
Mark often takes a photograph from the loo window of this view and calls it ‘View from the bathroom’, he hasn’t done this for a while (face down in a pot of paint/compost heap as he has been lately 😂). So today, I give you the view on his behalf. 😁
The weather patterns are very different here from those in the UK that we were used to. It’s taken some time to get the hang of it and become accustomed to the weirdness of regular +/- 20 degree temperature swings from one day to the next. The lack of wind is another and I’ve already talked about that, so I won’t bore you again but the net effect of these differences, is that one day we can be freezing cold and the next out in shorts and t-shirts.
The weather can change on a dime and in the summer months, storms can blow in very quickly. In the UK, you know a thunderstorm is coming, sometimes for several days as the air gets heavier and more humid. Then it comes, lasts for a few hours and the air is clear again. Here, that entire process can take less than an hour!
Since my knee busting episode, I’ve become very good at predicting changes in weather, my knee has become a very accurate and quick indicator of pressure change. Especially useful since in summer, it’s usually 30+ degrees all day and then only 15-20 mins of increasing heaviness in the air before the storm comes in quickly and violently, with multiple lightning flashes and then blows out again just as quickly. Between ‘Weather Mountain’ and ‘Weather Knee’, we pretty much have it covered! 😂 😂
Which is just as well as (In)Accuweather really does come up with some dodgy predictions, especially with small Alpine valleys. 🙄
Having started the day with snow on the ground and minus temperatures, I was again sitting at the computer doing stuff most of the day. Boring, somewhat depressing, but necessary. By mid afternoon, I was climbing the walls, so decided to bake an impromptu cake and then take the boys out for a walk. Just down through the village and into the woods by the old salt mine entrance. It was by then a beautiful afternoon with the temperature coming up dramatically, so whilst I took my coat, I didn’t need it. It was actually quite hot!
Mark continued with the remaining walls in the entrance hall and by the end of the day had finished all the walls. He has done an amazing job, given the technical challenges of reaching them all! Just the woodwork to do and it will be finished. We can’t do the ceiling sadly, as that would need a proper scaffolding platform and we don’t have one, nor can we lay our hands on one/afford to rent one right now. We’re trying not to look at it, it offends our respective OCDs, but in these times, we must learn to do what we can and be happy with that. Pretty sure no one will notice but us, after all, the spider/c*** virus shadows should do a rather neat job of covering that up! 😉 😆
Stay safe everyone xx
