We had only one truly hot weekend this summer, with temperatures hitting 37ºC (98.6ºF) and then what seemed like a sharp drop off into cooler temperatures. Of course my immune system faltered with the cooling temperatures and I’ve spent the last week enjoying both a stomach flu and tonsillitis simultaneously. And now I’m worried I have a cavity and will have to finally find out just how expensive dental work is in Switzerland.
But when I woke this morning I was greeted with this view from my kitchen:
Ahh…. Zürich fog, you are back. It looks like autumn really is here.
See, where we enjoy a summer haze around the Alps in the warmer months, Switzerland has a way of letting the fog roll in during the winter months and blanket everything in a cover of disguise. It drives some people mad and to be honest, after several months of fog day in and day out, it does get a bit dreary. But to me it also reminds me of new beginnings.
You see, I first arrived in Switzerland five years ago on this day. It was the weekend before Knabenschiessen, an annual shooting competition in Zürich. At the time, I had no idea that the festival was about shooting because my German companion for the day spoke very little English. He basically answered “Yes” to everything.
During my three month stay the days were getting colder and many of them were filled with the same fog in the picture above. For me, whenever the weather starts changing to colder I think about new beginnings. It started in my childhood with the school year starting in autumn each year, but now when I see the fog roll into Zürich I am reminded of my first weeks here.
When I decided to move here officially about a year later, I arrived in November. When I went back home for another visa to begin a job, I came back in time for autumn. When we left to get married we did it in the autumn.
It seems my life has had many new beginnings during this season, so when it starts I am always excited to see what will happen this time.
Do you have a favourite season for new beginnings?