November is the time of year where the weather in Finland is garanteed to be miserable. It is also noticibly darker, and the snow has not yet arrived to bring a bit of luminosity.
I was in Helsinki this week and witnessed the change first hand. Monday, the last day of October, was a beautiful sunny day. Tuesday, the first day of November, was overcast and grey – right on cue.
The whole November misery is compounded by the change of clocks from Summer Time last weekend, meaning that now the daylight ends shortly after 4pm.
The effect on people is noticeable: heads are down, energy levels seem to have dipped.
How appropriate that, while October is the month of mud in Finnish (lokakuu), November should be the month of the dead (marraskuu).
Happy melancholy to all!
You're right, I hate this period of the year too. However, this year october (and the beginning of november) has been exceptionnally warm ! That means that trees are still colorful right now, which is incredible. During the previous years I had noticed how quickly leaves were falling and autumn colors were gone. Seeing a little bit of gold up here and up there is some comfort at least.
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