I guess because my grandfather grew up on a farm, the weather often comes up when talking with him (or my dad, or my uncles). I think the influence of weather has more or less died out with my generation, but at the moment it's rather important for me because I'm quite susceptible to the elements, not having a car.
As you should know I had the privilege of sharing my flat with some rodents for the first 5.5 months of my life in Russia. The rats can no longer enter my flat, but nevertheless their existence continues to benefit me in an unexpected way. You see, when the flat was sealed, a considerable amount of poison was put into the rats' hole beforehand. About two weeks ago the weather became quite warm, and thus I became aware of corpse(s) belonging to one or more of them, and which sit directly below the floor of the entrance hall of my flat. In a few days I discovered that I could use the strength of the odor to determine the approximate temperature outside, and thereby make reasonable wardrobe selections. If I wasn't able to smell the rat at all, a coat was essential. If I smelled the rat in the hall, then I could probably get away with a sweater and no coat. If I could smell the rat from my bed, it was a day for short-sleeves or rolled-up long sleeves. Of course it would be much easier to discern the weather from some electronic device, but I feel that monitoring natural phenomena with electronics reduces the reality of life somehow. And hey, here I've got a pretty natural system so why not use it.
As you should know I had the privilege of sharing my flat with some rodents for the first 5.5 months of my life in Russia. The rats can no longer enter my flat, but nevertheless their existence continues to benefit me in an unexpected way. You see, when the flat was sealed, a considerable amount of poison was put into the rats' hole beforehand. About two weeks ago the weather became quite warm, and thus I became aware of corpse(s) belonging to one or more of them, and which sit directly below the floor of the entrance hall of my flat. In a few days I discovered that I could use the strength of the odor to determine the approximate temperature outside, and thereby make reasonable wardrobe selections. If I wasn't able to smell the rat at all, a coat was essential. If I smelled the rat in the hall, then I could probably get away with a sweater and no coat. If I could smell the rat from my bed, it was a day for short-sleeves or rolled-up long sleeves. Of course it would be much easier to discern the weather from some electronic device, but I feel that monitoring natural phenomena with electronics reduces the reality of life somehow. And hey, here I've got a pretty natural system so why not use it.
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