Although it's a myth that the Inuits have infinite words for snow, it still is true that different languages have different words out of necessity. In Swedish for example we do have quite some words having to do with winter, because we have winter. Some years more the others, but always winter. These last two have been the coldest since the 40's. Brrr.
One word connected with winter that we have is "tjäle". It roughly translates to 'ground frost'. It happens when the water down in the ground freezes. And we all know that ice is more dense that water and takes up a larger space. This phenomenon occurs every winter, but more or less. This year, since it got very cold before the snow came and isolated the ground keeping it a tad warmer, we experienced a lot of ground frost. The ground frost, being bigger that the water, causes problems in the spring because when it thaws and once again turns into water, there are empty pockets of nothings in the ground when the ground frost has been so it kind of sags in some places. Ergo, the roads get very bumpy. And this is perhaps were you start seeing the purpose of me jabbering on about ground frost.
I commute to work. I go by bus in the morning (takes about 55 minutes) and by train in the afternoon/evening (takes approximately 40 minutes). I have always been prone to motion sickness, but lately I have been able to read while in the bus in the morning, except of course in the winter when it is too dark to see anything. (Wow, doesn't Sweden seem alluring..? Cold AND dark) However, recently with all these new bumps appearing (see ground frost discussion), I can't read a word without wanting to throw up.
I still want to get my daily dose of great literature though... Hmmm.. what to do? Well, you see I procured an audio book. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" read by Stephen Fry (darn, he's a gifted reader). My first audio book ever. Up until last week I was an audio book virgin, unless you count all the cassettes of Disney stories I had as a child. I actually do like this whole audio book things. It's relaxing, can be done in the dark of winter, and doesn't make one feel sick. And it makes me run around speaking RP all day, both to the dismay and appreciation of my pupils.
I was an audio book virgin until last week too :)
SvaraRaderaI use mine while I walk to school and it really makes the walk a lot more entertaining. Altough, you've got be selective when it comes to picking your audio books, becuase you don't want to be listening to one that'll make you break down and cry in public :P