One thing I knew about Yinchuan before I came was that it was going to be cold, but it's difficult to understand how cold somewhere is without experiencing it. Now, for the second time, we are experiencing the cold of the North first hand and, yes, it's very cold. When a 'warm' day is -2°c you know you're living in Arctic conditions.
But the thing about the cold here is that it's dry. Snow is a rarity, even though when it does snow the white blanket hangs around for weeks, and icey pavements aren't something we have to deal with that often. Just crisp, pure cold. I haven't decided yet whether this dry cold makes everything feel colder or less cold, but I guess when the temperature is below freezing the nuances of cold seem less important...
The weird thing though is that I'm quite enjoying the cold, sure the inside of the bus windows are covered in ice from frozen condensation, and sure
*slightly gross alert!*
I did once blow my nose on the bus and, by the time I'd walked the five minutes it took to get to school, that tissue had frozen solid; but it's fun being wrapped up in more layers than you knew was possible to fit under a coat!
All the lakes around us have frozen solid, so solid that people can "safely" (I'm sceptical about China's health and safety standards) walk and skate on them. For a born and bred Londoner, when the most rustic we get is the Somerset House ice rink, it's definitely a winter wonderland dream to skate on a frozen lake and now here's my chance to do it! Who knows if I'll make it to fulfil my olde worlde Christmas skating fantasy, but it's good to dream.
One massive downside however are the heating bills. First of all let me explain that central heating in China is (a) the privilege of the Northern provinces, and (b) centrally controlled. In other words we do have central heating (yay!) but we can't control it at all (boo!). This isn't so bad now when I'm living with Orion in the lap of luxury, but it was a bit of a shock to the system last year when Jenny and I were living in an Aston-supplied house.
The heating came on when the government decided it was cold enough (they just about got it right) and we couldn't control how hot it is (they sometimes get this wrong). Sometimes it was boiling hot at home and sometimes it was freezing cold, but there was nothing we could do about it! And because we had no control over anything heating related, we had no control over how much we payed. This can be frustrating, especially when you're not always warm in your house but the bill still comes to 300元...each!
But the joys of extortionate bills are behind me and for now I'll stay in my nicely heated apartment 13 floors up and survey the winter landscapes while nursing a hot chocolate.
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| Frozen Lake from the beginning of the year |
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