[Marli]

As beautiful as British Columbia (Canada) is, I used to hate being there the first 3 months of the year. During those 3 months the rainy season is in full swing and it is possible to go for weeks without seeing the sun.

I was therefore looking forward to an improvement in weather conditions when I moved to Germany.

I live in the Rhine River Valley region, which supposedly has the best weather in Germany. Temperature wise, it is very similar to Vancouver. During the first 3 months of the year, the temperature hardly ever goes above 10 degrees Celcius and it also does not go much below zero either.

I am very happy to report that it is not nearly as rainy as Vancouver, however this also means that the chances of getting snow cover is almost zero.

What I did not know, is how stormy it can get here during March / April. It was therefore, with some interest, that I received a rhyme from one of my German colleagues the other day:


April, April,
der weiß nicht, was er will !
Mal Regen und mal Sonnenschein,
dann hagelt's wieder zwischendrein.
April, April,
der weiß nicht, was er will !

This is a little children's rhyme about April who doesn't know what it wants. It rains or the sun shines or it hails etc...

We've had some spectacular wind storms here, which have been amazing to watch.

Given that I've only been here for 2 months, I know that the winter climate here is definitely colder than many South Africans (that have never lived in the Northern hemisphere) have ever experienced. Yet, it is such that you will be able to cycle/ walk all year round. The worst that happens is the occasional icy day and the wind that sometimes blow really strongly during the early hours of the morning.

It is a fairly typical European winter, and our neighbours always head to Spain during this time!

Personally, I don't mind the coldness so much. At least I'm seeing blue skies from time to time and it doesn't rain incessantly!

[natalie]

We've had a fairly pleasant Jan, Feb and March up until a few days ago. Even when Eastern Canada was hit with severe snow storms we were basking in sunlight here in Vancouver, so much so that we were convinced Spring was here

Having lived in the UK for close on 6 years the weather in Vancouver doesn't bother me at all.

Schone tag Marli und viel spass in Deutschland!

[Marli]

Hi Natalie

I should add that the weather also doesn't bother me all that much! I have never lived in extremely cold climates, so I cannot say anything about that. But even the winters in Vancouver are tolerable. For sure the rest of the year the weather in Vancouver is really pleasant!!

I still prefer the warmer/wetter weather of Vancouver before living in a much colder/drier places. But if I could, I would have a drier environment than winter in Vancouver! And to me at the moment, it feels like Germany has Vancouver's climate minus the rain. And this is actually quite pleasant!

thanks for the wishes, and have "einen schönen Tag" too!