The day is gray. Or: the one where I bitch about the weather.

Late fall can be kind of grim here.

Or rather, late fall can make me kind of grim. As energetic and bubbly as I usually am in late spring and summer, and whenever the sky is blue and the sun is shining… that all goes out the window when the sky is gray and cloudy and it’s drizzly, cold and humid outside.

If you say I have Seasonal Whateveryoucallit Disorder I will cut you (ok, not really, but I will stick my tongue out at you. Possibly tell you to get lost. See how grumpy I am when it’s bad weather?)
Frankly, I think it’s just because I am an island girl, and for some reason I keep moving to godforsaken places where it’s cold and/or humid and/or rainy and/or snowy and just generally miserable for most of the year. What, you object? (Must you? Didn’t you hear me when I said I was grumpy?)

Let’s look at the list, shall we?

Starting point: Sardinia, Italy

Climate: Mediterranean – hot and dry in summer, warm spring and autumn, mild winters. Sardinia enjoys 7 hours of sunshine each day in April, rising to 11 hours in July.

Next: Milan, Italy

Climate: hot and humid in summer, very chilly with temperatures occasionally dropping below freezing in winter. Late fall and winter also bring rain and heavy fog. Oh joy. But luckily there was light at the end of the tunnel, or rather sun behind the clouds, because…

Next: Los Angeles, California

Climate: technically it’s Subtropical-Mediterranean, borderline Semi-Arid – translation: summers are dry and sunny and winters cool and wet. Note, not cold, not chilly, just barely “cool“. Also, in LA you can enjoy an average of 7 hours of sunshine a day in December, going up to an average 12 hours of sunshine a day in July. In other words, awesomeness. (As long as you have regular access to water, of course.)

Next: Copenhagen, Denmark

After sunny California, the move to Denmark just about did me in. Copenhagen is a beautiful city with pretty great stores and lots of art and culture, but I couldn’t see all that, because of the…
Climate: Oceanic/Humid Continental climate. In other words: water, water, everywhere – left, right, and falling from the sky, not to mention blowing off the left and right through the streets thanks to the lovely (not) wind. Brrr.
Wikipedia says that “Copenhagen experiences unstable and changing weather patterns in all four seasons” (translation: psychotic weather, good luck trying to decide what to wear) and that “Precipitation is moderate throughout the year, with a small peak during June to August” (it rains more in summer, people!!!) Also, at just over 1500 hours of sun per year, most days in Copenhagen are way darker an gloomier than the average winter day in LA. Quite an adjustment.

Next: Zurich, Switzerland

Climate: technically, same as Copenhagen: Oceanic/Humid Continental. Summer can be hot, but as Wikipedia will tell you, “There are on average 30 summer days”. In total. Out of 365, 30 are summer days. Just shoot me now.
And let’s not even talk about the fact that Zurich has even less hours of sunshine per year than Copenhagen. No wonder they became top chocolatiers – with this little sun, one needs a mood elevator of some sort. (Except sunlight is calorie-free, while chocolate goes right to my thighs.)

Next: New York suburbs (lower Westchester Cty), New York

Climate: Humid Continental/Humid Subtropical climate – translation: hot in summer, cold in winter. By the book. Well-balanced. Because summer is nice and hot, even if a tad humid for my taste; and winter can be pretty darn cold, but when you live a 25-minute train ride away from Midtown there’s lots to do so it’s never ever a drag. Unless the traffic and public transportation both come to a standstill because of the snow. That can be annoying.

Next: Zurich, again.

So there. Doomed to live in darkness. And humidity. And carb-craving hell.
Which come to think of it, totally explains why I ballooned up since I left LA. That, and the fact that I had two kids.

But enough about me: what’s the weather like where you live? Do you love it? Or does it drive you crazy? Share. I won’t judge. No one this neurotic is in a position to, really.