Scotland's sizzling Costa del North Sea is just a snowy memory

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/03/scotland-sizzling-costa-snowy-memory

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Welcome to Aberdeen, the (self-proclaimed) energy capital of Europe. What should residents do with all that energy? The burning question of late has been whether they should keep the home fires burning. An old Scots proverb advises you not to discard clothes until May's out ("Ne'er cast a clout till May be oot") . Those less versed in the wisdom of ages will be cursing any premature wardrobe shuffles given the acute vacillations of Scotland's weather of late.

Ask yourself a question. Have (or had you, before March) ever heard of Aboyne? Aboyne is a quaint village in Deeside, not universally known in Scotland and certainly not well known to those from further afield. Now it "shivers in sub-zero conditions, less than a week after setting a new Scottish record temperature in March at 23.6C (74.5F)". The residents of Aboyne are reported to have just got on with it throughout. There have been no reports of panic buying of salt, fuel and canned goods. The familiar announcement of the closure of snow gates on the Cock Bridge-to-Tomintoul road has been greeted with ambivalence and the occasional innuendo-based titter. Aberdeen is a little more sheltered from westerly precipitation by the Grampian Hills and thus received only a dusting of snow, so I managed to undertake my morning jog without donning snowshoes, but the contrast with last week remains marked.

Easter is a traditional time for holidays, although the holiday activities of basking and baking are not usually associated with this particular time of year. Well, baking suitably religious buns might be, but disrobing and baking oneself is not. Those lucky enough to be on earlier vacation schedules were able to head to the Costa Del North Sea for a sunbathe or up to the hills to take advantage of the right of responsible access conferred by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 in glorious weather. Overhearing unseasonal moaning about sunburn became a surprisingly regular occurrence.

Yet this week, those on later vacation schedules are left cursing the comparison. More sanguine individuals might recall the wise words of Tim Booth, the lead singer of James, who mused that he could live with being poor if he hadn't seen such riches. It is April, after all. An activity such as that mooted by James – ie the act of sitting down, perhaps indoors with a nice cup of tea and a good book – seems altogether more appropriate to expected weather patterns for April.

Life, it seems, goes on. People might still be out and about this week enjoying their right of responsible access, hopefully while wearing suitable clothes given that May is not yet oot – unless that proverb was a reference to Theresa May, who seems to have got oot of Scotland in one piece after mooting the introduction of border guards at the Anglo-Scottish boundary. Then again, the proverb may be a reference to the budding of flowers. It is all rather confusing, really.

I leave with another pearl of wisdom from Bob Dylan: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows".I am not a meteorologist, but it looks pretty cold. As I type, it has started to sleet, but it is not too bad for this time of year. Maybe I will keep the home fires burning.

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