I once lived ten years in a place where the sun didn’t shine one day for two years straight. The ground would freeze in early November and not thaw until mid-May. In mid-wiinter, the sun would come up at 11:30 am, ride low on the horizon, then set at 3pm. Outside temps between December and March were in the -30’s F more often than not. Summer meant June temps in the 50’s with a few sunshiny days, cold rain through July—every single July—followed by a sunny early August, but the leaves began to turn again before the end of the month.
I spent a lot of time in the University Library, then thanks to used bookstores in places like Folkstone, England, I created my own little cubby hole at home where I could explore the world without having to go outside. I began a coin collection, learned how to play chess. I visited friends and we had great big dinners together with twelve people at the table as the winter winds howled just outside the windows. I found a gym near my flat where I could prevent my body from going to hell before I could resume my outdoor pursuits in what was called “Summer.”
I tried cross-country skiing, but I found it boring as hell in a colorless landscape. I was invited on a Reindeer hunt, the annual culling of the herds, in remarkable sunshine at -50F and found out that, at those temperatures, a 30.06 sounds like an air gun and your piss freezes before it hits the ground.
I’d never experienced anything like it in my entire life. It was actually a very nice change from years spent in subtropical Florida. It was great to be able to dress in fine clothing with scarves, gloves and hats instead of just shorts and T-shirts and flipflops. I learned how to be patient, how to sit quietly. I went with my wife to museums and the opera and found out there was art and music other than Freak Bros. Comics and Led Zepplin. It was good for me.
Inside pursuits. Reading, stamp and coin collecting and related research, chess, backgammon and other board games, working out and playing team sports in indoor facilities. All that saved this Florida boy’s sanity.