Spring in my step

The spring thaw is my least favourite time in Sweden. On one hand it's rather intriguing watching nature burst back into life again. Never fails to amaze me how green things can become during the space of a few days. Such dramatic changes are no so apparent in most countries. But for the most part, it's just a bit yucky. The snow melts relatively quickly. That's the easy part. This year it was really good, we had a few warm days with a warm wind. That sped the process up no end. With the snow gone, the ground can start to thaw out. The first 10 to 15cm depth thaws quickly, but the deeper permafrost layer can take a month before it has thawed enough to soak up any ground water. So it's that time inbetween when we all hold our breath. Any rain which falls during this time tends to sit on the surface with nowhere to go. And that is exactly what has happened. It's not like we have had bucketloads of rain, but when it's all just lying on the ground then it feels like a lot. The poor old horses struggle in their paddocks during this time of year. Standing in mud and water all day can't be a lot of fun. We're always very careful to clean his feet when he come into the stables every evening. That's possibly one reason why he is the only horse in the stables who has never had any hoof problems. It's hard keeping shoes on the horses as the mud tends to suck them straight off. Add another cost.

The traditional springtime sickness is doing the rounds amongst us mortals. This has hit me hard every year since we arrived. In fact, it's so regular that I'm convinced that it's more of a springtime allergy that I have developed, and not a cold like it feels. Way too much of a coincidence that I should get a chronic cold at exactly the same time every year. With that in mind, I've decided to take the "mind over matter" approach. Despite feeling crappy, I know that I don't have a cold. And therefore I'm not going to allow myself to feel all the things one feels when one has a bad cold. I don't think that I'm in a desperate attempt to beat medical science or anything silly like that. I have to confess that I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. If I think that I MIGHT be feeling ill, suddenly I start feeling terrible. The mind is a bit cruel in that respect. So I figure that the reverse must apply as well. I do think there are some newly formed allergy issues surrounding the thaw period. Mould from áutumn leaves becomes exposed and a lot of people feel quite fatigued and blocked up at this time. I've experimented a bit and found that popping a few over-the-counter hayfever pills seems to be doing the trick. Either way I'm determined to get through the thaw for the first time without succumbing to a week's bed rest. Famous last words.