Living in a cold country...must be awful and depressing.....

[Wacky Racer]

Surely?

Been watching several TV programmes lately that are set in cold parts of the world, for example "Fortitude", and got me to thinking how depressing it must be....short days, long nights....freezing cold most of the time....

Norway springs to mind....(Although I've never been)

Even accepting if you are born and brought up there, and so are used to it, it must make life a bit grim.........

Brrrrrrr...

.

[Zetec-S]

Alaska doesn't really appeal, looks like an awful lot of icy nothingness.

I like the idea of Scandinavia (although never been). A nice log cabin on the edge of the forest overlooking a fjord to get away from everything

[MYOB]

Think I read that the Scandinavian countries, whilst tend to be the happiest places in the world, also have the highest rates of depression.

An oxymoron if you like...!

[Meridius]

Ive often heard things about the long nights, little daylight and cold winters contributing to depression in places like Scandinavia, Iceland, Russia etc but then Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland are all consistently named as the happiest countries in the world, so cant be that bad.

[Long Drax]

Wacky Racer said:

Surely?

Been watching several TV programmes lately that are set in cold parts of the world, for example "Fortitude", and got me to thinking how depressing it must be....short days, long nights....freezing cold most of the time....

Norway springs to mind....(Although I've never been)

Even accepting if you are born and brought up there, and so are used to it, it must make life a bit grim.........

Brrrrrrr...

.

According to the BBC, this Saturday is forecast to be a Sunny 20C in Norway's capital, Oslo. That's about 7C warmer than my nearest city, York.

Personally, I'd rather reside in a cold climate country than a hot climate one. 20 is plenty.

[ReaperCushions]

Equally living somewhere hot and humid can be terrible as well. I live in Southern California by the coast which is fantastic, but just 20 miles inland and its almost unbearable for long periods of the year. Head further south and east (Texas, Louisiana, Florida etc...) and you can add in 90%+ humidity which feels like you're walking around in the summer under a duvet.

[whoami]

Long Drax said:

Personally, I'd rather reside in a cold climate country than a hot climate one. 20 is plenty.

[Some Gump]

Wacky Racer said:

Surely?

Been watching several TV programmes lately that are set in cold parts of the world, for example "Fortitude", and got me to thinking how depressing it must be....short days, long nights....freezing cold most of the time....

Norway springs to mind....(Although I've never been)

Even accepting if you are born and brought up there, and so are used to it, it must make life a bit grim.........

Brrrrrrr...

.

I reckon you'd get used to whatever is normal.
Scandinavia. Cold, long nights. Awesome at snow rallying. A volvo 240 becomes a supercar. You can go skiing without losing 2 grand. All the locals are tall blonde and fit. Nee porkers, because they all ski. The nights are long, so you can stay with said blonde and still get a good night kip. Where's the downside?
xtra clothes on, but you can't take
We all look at warm places with envy, and forget that in summer you can't do jack because it's too hot. Remember - you can put more layers on if you're cold, but you can't take your shirt off in the office. I'd take cold over hot every single time.

[aizvara]

You all realise that Scandinavia and similar only have the long dark nights and more extreme cold in winter? In summer the nights are non existent. Days are long and warm.

[FreeLitres]

I've been all over Europe and Scandinavia with my work and Norway is probably my favourite place to visit. Alesund was stunning - I took my family there for a holiday after my works trips were over



Temperature wise, at the coast it is surprisingly mild. The average is always above freezing through the year.

ETA: Possibly not a place for the heavy drinker though. A pint of Guinness was £8 in the pub.

Edited by FreeLitres on Saturday 6th May 00:24

[tjl]

Lived in Sweden for 3 years. Our first winter there was around -20c and the first summer peaked at +35. Summer days were fantastic. Sitting on balcony in the evening and it never really got dark. Winters were dry and crisp. Not that horrible damp cold we get. I'd go back in a heart beat.

[fttm]

Nothing can be as depressing as living in Britain , minus 40/50C isn't that bad .

[rxtx]

aizvara said:

You all realise that Scandinavia and similar only have the long dark nights and more extreme cold in winter? In summer the nights are non existent. Days are long and warm.

That depends on where you are in Scandinavia, and the summer days aren't as long and warm as you might think.

Edinburgh is close to Copenhagen's latitude, I lived in Copenhagen for a year and likened it to the UK's climate. Oslo was a bit colder than I was used to in winter but the day/night wasn't so different. You need blackout curtains (mostly for comfort, rather than it being a necessity) from maybe Bergen upwards, I only say this because an ex lived in Bergen (she came from Larvik, no blackouts there) and only had blackouts in Bergen.

Longer days/nights you don't really notice until you get farther north, at Reykjavik/Tromsø latitudes.

[Buffalo]

I've lived in Northern Canada, where temperatures can hit -50'c. I have to say I loved it - we did more activities in the winter than the summer. Being out in such cold winter is different as there is no moisture around so the days are dry and the skies often brilliantly clear and sunny. It can often feel warmer when in direct sunshine. Ice fishing, cross country and downhill skiing, ski-dooing, etc. All great fun.

The most depressing part we found was lack of truly quality food in supermarket (granted the opportunity to catch your own was greater) but coming back to UK and going into Waitrose was almost overwhelming as so much choice available.

You should try visiting before you form too hard an opinion..!

[ian in lancs]

tjl said:

Lived in Sweden for 3 years. Our first winter there was around -20c and the first summer peaked at +35. Summer days were fantastic. Sitting on balcony in the evening and it never really got dark. Winters were dry and crisp. Not that horrible damp cold we get. I'd go back in a heart beat.

Agree - six years for me. Love the place!

[fttm]

Buffalo said:

I've lived in Northern Canada, where temperatures can hit -50'c. I have to say I loved it - we did more activities in the winter than the summer. Being out in such cold winter is different as there is no moisture around so the days are dry and the skies often brilliantly clear and sunny. It can often feel warmer when in direct sunshine. Ice fishing, cross country and downhill skiing, ski-dooing, etc. All great fun.

The most depressing part we found was lack of truly quality food in supermarket (granted the opportunity to catch your own was greater) but coming back to UK and going into Waitrose was almost overwhelming as so much choice available.

You should try visiting before you form too hard an opinion..!

Spot on , we had six inches of snow last week , today was plus 29C . So much to do in all seasons.

[sawman]

I lived in the canadian prairies for a few years, long spells of minus 20-30 during the winter. i much prefer that sort of weather to the drab winters we get in the UK. Cold canadian days are accompanied by clear blue skies, and because its part of the schedule the snowy, cold outdoors is embraced rather than seen as an inconvenient news item

Having said that there are plenty of folks who sit in their basement drinking til the snow melts

[Kermit power]

fttm said:

Nothing can be as depressing as living in Britain.

One thing that many ex-pats discover is that your problems are down to you, not down to where you live.

Sure, if you're unemployed or in a dead end minimum wage job living in a skanky urban estate somewhere, I'm sure Britain can be pretty depressing, but improving yourself and moving to somewhere decent in the UK is just as likely to fix your issues as moving to another country.

If, on the other hand, you're already living somewhere in the UK that would be considered nice and you still think nothing can be as depressing as living there, then frankly you've got the issues, not the place.

I've lived in three countries and travelled to dozens more, most of which have been very pleasurable, but any time I start thinking I'd like to up sticks and move to one of them, all it takes to change my mind is to grab my mountain bike and head into the English countryside, preferably with a decent rural pub at the other end for a quiet pint in the garden at the end to completely set my mind straight again.

If you want somewhere truly and completely depressing, might I suggest the utterly boring, sweltering hole that is Saudi Arabia?

[Robertj21a]

Kermit power said:

fttm said:

Nothing can be as depressing as living in Britain.

One thing that many ex-pats discover is that your problems are down to you, not down to where you live.

Sure, if you're unemployed or in a dead end minimum wage job living in a skanky urban estate somewhere, I'm sure Britain can be pretty depressing, but improving yourself and moving to somewhere decent in the UK is just as likely to fix your issues as moving to another country.

If, on the other hand, you're already living somewhere in the UK that would be considered nice and you still think nothing can be as depressing as living there, then frankly you've got the issues, not the place.

I've lived in three countries and travelled to dozens more, most of which have been very pleasurable, but any time I start thinking I'd like to up sticks and move to one of them, all it takes to change my mind is to grab my mountain bike and head into the English countryside, preferably with a decent rural pub at the other end for a quiet pint in the garden at the end to completely set my mind straight again.

If you want somewhere truly and completely depressing, might I suggest the utterly boring, sweltering hole that is Saudi Arabia?

Totally agree with all of this. There's plenty of great places in the UK and the weather is only one factor in your overall lifestyle. Anyone can choose to move to warmer, sunnier, parts of the UK - or to the glorious scenery of the Scottish Highlands. It's what you make of it that's important. If you still don't like the weather then move abroad for a few years.

[RDMcG]

I live in Southern Canada. Yes , we have winter and I store certain cars from November to mid April. However I prefer the winter to the endless rain in winter I experienced in Ireland where I spent my first 25 years.