There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather

....Just bad clothing. That's what the Swedes say. And of course they have to. Scandanavia is chilly this time of year, there is no doubt about that. Do you think I chose to live as far south as I could possibly get in Sweden by accident? It's an enormous land mass remember, that stretches up into Lapland where July is still host to snow on the ground. So, as a person who has also lived in some real hotspots, I celebrated my move to Sweden by purchasing a warm and cosy winter coat. My first in many years.

On the plus side, I have to admit that I don't need to use an umbrella much. You see, we get far less rain than, say, in England - but the downside to this is that the fields are not as green in the springtime. And during the winter months it's more common to see people out walking with ski sticks than needing to use umbrellas that invariably turn inside out at the first gust of wind.

If the snow doesn't reach us before Christmas, then we can usually guarantee it's arrival by mid January. And the Scandinavian snow is quite special.

Couples with blue sunny skies and a crystal stillness, the landscape becomes breathtakingly beautiful. And in the words of the song, the snow is truely "deep and crisp and even". The ocean freezes over to a few metres out from the shoreline and winter skaters make the most of this window of opportunity, when one can actually ice skate on the sea.

Every child wears a snowsuit, without exception, for the whole season. It means that they can slip and slide without a care in the world. And stay warm and dry for many hours. The outdoor life of the typical Swede remains just that throughout the entire year, due to their good wardrobe sense.

Now, in addition to the mandatory snowsuit, each child must own a pulka - a small sledge. Here in Skåne, we have rather a hard job of finding hilly landscapes to make the most of sledging downhill, so the hills that you can find that actually give the best acceleration, are always rather packed. Even so, the children are so determined to use their sledges that it's up to the adults to pull them along the snow-covered pavements instead. There is no "opt-out" option here.

So pull we do. The pulka are simply lined with sheepskins and become the ultimate method of transportation for a youngster, replacing strollers, bicycles or scooters utterly and completely during the winter months. The children love this mode of transportation and, well, at least it's one way for the moms and dads to keep warm - we just head for the nearest glögg stop in the village.