Saint de glace - or why it is is cold today

At the school gate today, I complained to one of the locals about the cold weather we are injuring at the moment. After several weeks of balmy Spring days it was quite a shock to have to put the heating back on and dig my winter jacket out of the cellar. I was expecting an exclamation of "La Bise, La Bise!" which is normally what happens when the cold wind whistles down Lake Geneva. 

Non. It is apparently the Saint de Glace, the Ice Saints. I can remember from my years in Germany that there was a rule to wait until after the Eisheiligen to put the flowers onto the balcony, and now I find these pesky Saints have followed me to Geneva. 

The school mum explained that it is common for the weather to turn cold in the week before the 11th May. No one in this area plants their garden before that date. Damn. Wish I had known this before I planted my herb garden a couple of weeks ago.


When I got home, I had a look online to find an explanation for this weather phenomena. Easier said than done, as I could find no explanation in English or German. Google translate is my friend so I was able to understand the French websites.

It is all to do with the pesky Saints, Mamertus, Pancras, Servatius and Boniface whose saints days were traditionally celebrated from 11th to 14th May and brought such cold weather that farmers would fear for their crops. You will not find these days marked in many calenders these days because in the 60s the Vatican decided to assign new Saints to these days, and bump the pagan Ice Saints onto the reserve bench.

Is there a meteorological explanation for the cold weather that arrives around these dates? There is according to Wikipedia (apologies for the Wiki explanation but it was the only one that I could find) 

 Some explain the saying by an astronomical phenomenon coinciding with the period of 12 or May 13 of each year, the orbit of the Earth has to cross a very diffuse disk of dust in the solar system, formed both by particles trapped as residues from the formation of planets at the dawn of their existence.  For several hours, the dust is very little barrier to solar radiation.  The decrease in intensity is not observable without extremely sensitive measuring instruments, but sufficient to affect the delicate mechanisms of the meteorology of the globe.The Earth crosses again this dusty disk six months later, on November 11.

 

If you have made sense of that, well done. 

One of the things that I miss when the warmer weather comes along is the open fire in the living room. It has not been on for weeks now. So today I will revel in the short-lived return to cold weather by shutting the shutters, lighting a fire and putting my feet up with a big mug of Cadbury's Hot Chocolate. Bliss.

Mumsnet. A online website for parents - full of bullies?

Sometimes a well intentioned act can go terribly wrong. 

This morning I read an article in the Times Online about the 40 best bloggers. One of the blogs was amusing and I linked to it on Mumsnet, asking if the blogger was a Mumsnetter. Turns out that she is not, and not everyone liked her blog. She quickly took offence and accused MNetters of bullying her. 

For a while, as some more people agreed that her blog was indeed funny, she seemed to calm down and started a lighthearted banter with some other posters. 

No idea what happened next, she suddenly realised that MN was not for her, too unkind, to bullying. Ok, each to their own, if that was the impression that she got then I am sorry for it. 

Instead of letting it go, she then proceeded to tweet up a storm, ranting about "hagsnet", suggesting that we were all suffering from PMT and needed a "good shag" and a job. So far, so misogynistic. When her followers joined in and told stories about the terrible time they have had on MN, and the bullying they have injured, the whole thing took a slightly surreal turn. 

At one point she tweeted that if any journalist was reading, that she could put them in touch with many followers who had been bullied on Mumsnet.

Yes, MNetters can be direct, honest and sometimes for the unsuspecting that can be a bit offputting. Bullying? Seldom, and normally the bullies are taken to task by other MNetters. It is not a website for the faint hearted.

The other side, the less combative side of Mumsnet and the side that does not hit the press very often, is very different. We have seen the support that posters who have been bereaved receive. We know that if a MNetter is in need that she will be helped, often far beyond the normal assistance that would be expected of a member of an anonymous online forum. 

One memorable thread was the story of the teddy bear lost at a London airport and reunited with the Mumsnetter's daughter in Scotland. A MN-husband worked as a baggage handler at the airport and was able to locate the bear and put it on the next flight. 

There are dozens of posts like this. I have been sent Bakewell Tarts and HSM/Ben 10 chocolate advent calenders from a poster in England when I mentioned that I could not get them here in Switzerland. On another occasion I was sent tea bags, when mine ran out. This was not from particular friends, just posters who had chatted for a while and offered so send something.


Recently dozens of Mumsnetters came together to assist those stranded abroad by the volcanic ash plane grounding. Local travel websites were consulted, contact numbers found for bus companies who were organising coaches to travel across Europe. One Mumsnetter was able to save the cost and hassle of a hotel room when she went to Brussels to pick up her DS when she was offered a bed for the night. 

On a slightly more serious note, several times in the past couple of years lives have been saved by Mumsnetters recognising a serious situation and imploring the poster to get help. I am not exaggerating here. There have been posters who, without MNetters' advice, would have died.


It is a shame to see the website maligned like this. I hope that the followers of the blogger (who I shall not name as I do not want to get into another argument with her) go and look for themselves and see what a fantastic website MN is.

It is my daughter's 8th Birthday today.

On 26th April 2002 I was called into hospital to be induced, 13 days over my due date with no signs of imminent labour. After trying EVERYTHING that had been suggested to kick start labour (including acupuncture which resulted in me fainting on the poor midwife but not one little twinge) I was ready, even eager to be induced.

I was given a pessary at midday and told to wander around the grounds of the hospital. My husband and I walked aimlessly up and down the corridors, into the garden, passing a lot of people who smiled and nodded. Incredible how friendly folk are to a pregnant woman in a hospital - perhaps they are just terrified and hoping to get away fast.

By 8pm things were starting to get more interesting, I was having pains that I had to breathe through. We were moved onto the labour ward and monitored to make sure the baby was fine. The midwife suggested a bath but I spent only 10 minutes in there before feeling dizzy.

In the early hours of the morning the midwife examined me. Expecting to be told that I was already 7 or 8cm dilated, I could have whalloped her when she said 3 cm. By this point I was on a drip. The doctor advised upping the dose and must have noticed me drawing breath to scream as she offered me an epidural in the same breath. By this point I was getting tired and disheartened by the lack of progress so agreed.

It took another hour to find someone in the hospital to do bloods and a free anaesthetist, but once it was in I was amazed at the difference. I was able to regroup and gather strength. I pootled along until around 11.30am when things started hotting up. I was fully dilated, and was told I could start to push.

Our daughter was born just after midday, a shock of jet black hair, a tiny wee person, a wail. My baby. OMG. We had made a baby!

It hit me then that our lives had changed forever. My husband and I were left alone with our daughter for a while and I gave him a present, a new wedding ring as he had lost his. With our newborn daughter between us I whispered the wedding vows as I slipped his ring on his fingers.

"Before God, and in the presence of our daughter, C F, I declare my love for you, promise to love you and cherish you, in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live."

And now I have to go and take my 8yo to school. 

Genes are funny things

Looking at these two dogs, would you even consider that they are related, let alone sister and brother from the same litter? They are indeed siblings, Daphne and her biiig brother Obelix. Nomen est omen and all that. Daphne is a lightweight at just under 3kgs, Obelix weighs over 11kgs. 

Mum was a Maltese Terrier, Dad a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Daphne's face is more like a Cavalier but her stature is definitely Maltese. 

They two of them love rough and tumble play, and race to greet each other when I meet Obelix and his mum after the school run.

Today the siblings were joined by a pug who played happily with them after they had all had a good sniff of each other.

A bridge to remember