Longer, colder nights, shorter days, and now a morning frost last week confirms our wonderful summer has come to an end. On Friday it’ll be time for us to return to the Island for the weekend and prepare the van for winter.
This is always tinged with sadness, as to me there’s nothing worse than the seaside and a summer-based environment empty and devoid of holidaymakers. Okay, you can brace yourself, put on your coat and walk along the shoreline, but it’s not quite the same as on a hot day is it? Also none of our usual cafes will be open either. It’s all rather grim…
Sam will be up a ladder jet-washing all the leaves out of the guttering and then cleaning the decking. I’ll take the curtains round to the industrial washing machines on site. Then we turn off the main stopcock, flush the toilets, and let all the water drain from the system before putting bowls of salt around and in the u-bends to absorb moisture/condensation and leaving the thermostat on its frost setting. The whole process is called ‘draining-down’, and if we re-visit before April we’ll need to ‘drain-up’ again and repeat the draining-down process before we leave.
We only have one visit planned between December and the end of March, and that’s for a New Year’s Eve dinner and dance at a local hotel. However, Sam will put some Christmas lights up, and usually the few staff left there run a Christmas lights competition for any owners who have decided to stay over the holiday period. There will be no other entertainment, the shop, clubhouse and swimming pool are closed, and to be quite honest, I find it’s a bit depressing to be there.
Some hardy souls stay on site for the whole winter, but it does get rather expensive to heat the vans, with each gas bottle costing £63 and only lasting for one week (we gained this knowledge from our neighbour, who tends to stay there most of the year). I prefer to leave it until the sun regains its strength before I return.
Every autumn in years past, my mother always used to state that she was going to become depressed because the summer had ended, and lo and behold she did. I only feel this way when I’m at the van in the wintertime, as I’m used to being there when it’s hot and when all the facilities are open. As soon as I return to Suffolk the change in season doesn’t affect me in the same way.
Nurses at the hospital where I work suggest that patients suffering from SAD syndrome (Seasonal Affective Disorder) get outside as much as they can during the daytime, and buy special light boxes to look at for a certain amount of time every day. I don’t really need a light box… I just need to lock up the van, return home to my family, and wait for summer!
Do you suffer from SAD Syndrome? How do you cope with it? Sam, as practical as ever, says there’s nothing we can do about the changing seasons, so we just have to get on with it!
Phil Huston said:
I don’t suffer with SAD. A touch of SDST (Stupid Daylight Savings Time) blues because the dogs get up at 4 in the morning and it’s too dark to grill by 5:30. In my youth I longed for the early onset of darkness, due to the prospect of not having to kill time waiting for the sun to go down before “getting to it” at the drive in. But never SAD. Get up, move around. Sure the beach is abummer when it’s cold and lonely, but then sometimes that’s just the ticket. And summer in England? That’s like the line “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Or Oxfordshire in July.
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Stevie Turner said:
I’ll have you know it was 40.3 degrees Centigrade in my garden one afternoon in July this year…
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Phil Huston said:
One. I heard about that “heat wave.” Ouch!
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robertawrites235681907 said:
I do not like winter in South Africa, Stevie. It is dry and a lot colder than people think. Our houses are built for heat so we tend to suffer in the winter and the electricity supply is unreliable. The dryness is horrible and results in a lot of sinus and other respiratory infections. Do I suffer from SAD – maybe
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Stevie Turner said:
I didn’t realise it got cold in South Africa in winter. That’s a new one on me!
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tracikenworth said:
Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thank you for the re-blog.
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tracikenworth said:
You’re welcome, Stevie!
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dgkaye said:
Maybe you shouldn’t go back for New Years? I’m not sure I can say I get depressed at winter and dark days but I can certainly say that the chill really gets in my bones like it hadn’t in younger years and I know how much the sun lifts my spirits, so I suppose I’m affected in some way. 🙂 Thankfully, I don’t have to wait for next summer to bask in the rays – 7 weeks and counting to Mexico! 🙂
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Stevie Turner said:
Lucky old you! Yes, it might be time to arrange something else next year for New Year’s Eve and leave the van drained down until April.
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dgkaye said:
🙂
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Darlene said:
It gets quieter here in Spain in the winter as we live in a beach town and many people just come for holidays. But it’s OK. There is enough to do and still some folks around so we don’t get depressed. Also, the sun shines most of the time. SAD can be serious for some folks though. In Vancouver, I tended to keep very busy so I didn’t notice the shorter days and less sun too much.
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Stevie Turner said:
Yes I suppose it doesn’t get too cold there in wintertime?
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Darlene said:
You still need a jacket, but not a heavy one. If it rains it gets a bit chilly. But today I sat and read in the sun with a sleeveless top and shorts. It cools off at night though.
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Stevie Turner said:
Sounds ideal.
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Savoring Sixty and Beyond said:
Your place sounds like something I would love to own! When I go to the beach once or twice a year, I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the tourists during the spring and summer (even early fall). I also enjoy the solitude it can provide when I just need to cleanse my soul as I gaze at the horizon, wrapped in a warm blanket, and listen to the sounds of nature at its finest! You are so blessed to have this opportunity on a more regular basis!
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Stevie Turner said:
Yes we are lucky, but I wish it was summer all year round!
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franklparker said:
I spent 13 year living in a seaside town. Not the same as a holiday village, of course, but it was good to be able to see the sea in all its moods, right throughout the year. And the town without the crowds of holiday makers and day trippers seemed more normal!
Again, as a gardener, the winter is a time for planning and anticipation of the season to come. I sowed garlic the other day – in a space where I had grown wallflowers which had, a day or two before, been removed to their spring location – which is where I had, the same day, dug up the Dahlias to store the tubers in the cold greenhouse for winter. I don’t much like the weather or the lack of light and sometimes think it would be nice to spend winter somewhere else but, on balance, I’m with Sam.
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Stevie Turner said:
Perhaps I should take up gardening and enjoy each season as it comes…
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watchingthedaisies said:
I use a light box in winter, and sometimes in summer! It really helps. I aspire to spending some winter weeks in sunny climes…
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Stevie Turner said:
Good idea re sunny climes!
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jenanita01 said:
Unfortunately, I can become depressed at any time of the year. It is a lifetime battle to fend of the ‘black dog’ and the weather has nothing to do with it. The Island in winter sounds like the perfect place for me. Think of all the writing I could get done!
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Stevie Turner said:
Yes it would suit some for sure, but I find it depressing to be in a place in wintertime that is usually geared up for summer.
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jenanita01 said:
Beautiful, and abandoned…and near the sea… perfect!
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Stevie Turner said:
Just need a bit of sun…
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jenanita01 said:
Not for me, it’s too strong for my eyes these days…
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Stevie Turner said:
Me too, but I’ve got industrial sunglasses.
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jenanita01 said:
I might have to get some of those, while I wait to have my cataracts removed…
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Stevie Turner said:
Yes I’ve got an ‘early lens opacity’ as they say, in the left eye, due to previous steroid drops after several bouts of radiotherapy. Deep joy.
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jenanita01 said:
Will thîs improve with time?
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Stevie Turner said:
A cataract takes sometimes years to cause symptoms. I’ll get on the waiting list soon and hopefully by the time I need the op I’ll have got to the top of the list!
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jenanita01 said:
This is one of the problems with getting older, not the rapid influx of conditions, but the waiting for them to get bad enough to do something about!
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Stevie Turner said:
What is also bad is the cutting of hospital services to save money. One wonders sometimes if it’s worth running a hospital at all?
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jenanita01 said:
I suspect this is the major cause of all this waiting…
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jenanita01 said:
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks very much for re-blogging.
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ksbeth said:
that’s the hardest part of the late fall and winter seasons for me, missing the light
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Stevie Turner said:
I miss the warm weather!
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Miriam Hurdle said:
When we went to Alaska one year, the rafting guide said his town gets no sun during winter. The people in the whole town left, but one person stays on duty. Your post reminds me of that story.
I think we’re fortunate to live in the Sunshine California. When I lived in Portland, Oregon – 1000 miles north, I came with friends to California for Christmas. It was from snowy ground to sunny day. Yes, the sun has so much impact on our mood.
Thank you for sharing.
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Stevie Turner said:
No sun during winter? Wow, no wonder people leave! Then again I expect in the summer there is no night?
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Miriam Hurdle said:
Yes, I think some of the time there is 23 hours of sun. Room darkening blinds are needed for bedrooms plus eye mask to get some sleep! When there’s no sun, some people hang out in the bars. Depression increases suicidal rate.
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