Summer
------

Jynx just phlogged[1] about disliking summer (also about buying a
bike, which is a great idea!).

Growing up in Australia I always really hated summer.  It was easily
my least favourite season.  It mostly just meant constant, unbearable
heat.

I'm now in the middle of my third Finnish summer, and my attitude
toward the season is changed entirely.  It's not really too hard to
understand why.  It's much easier to appreciate summer when it's
placed in contrast to a bitter winter, which obviously I never
experienced back home.  It also just doesn't get *that* hot here.  The
temperature has been hovering around the low 20s in Celsius (high 60s
to low 70s Fahrenheit) for the last two weeks or so and is forecast to
do so for the foreseeable future.  But a third factor, and just as
important, is the light!  It's not just that it stays light late, but
there is something magical about the quality of the light in the
evenings.  The sun is low in the sky and the light comes in at a
gentle angle, giving everything a golden glow.  It's a very intense
visual experience which in Australia would inevitably be closely
coupled to scorching heat but here it's totally comfortable weather to
be outside.  I honestly love it!  Past me would never believe I'd ever
confess to loving summer.

All year round, the seasonal variation is just so much more salient
here than anything I've experienced before.

[1] gopher://1436.ninja:70/0/Phlog/20190618.post