An unexpected consequence of darkness

We are now well and truly in the throes of the southern Sweden winter, which means very limited daylight…and what sun you do get see is usually filtered through very thick, gray clouds.

Swedes have some pretty creative ways of dealing with the extended darkness. Tonight I walked home from Malmö’s Central Station behind a guy who had draped his messenger bag with traditional white Christmas lights. (I never did figured out where he had the power supply stashed.)

I do a pretty good job of adjusting to the lack of light, which got a bit more challenging for me when I became monocular last November. The fact is that I even find it kind charming and cozy for the first couple of weeks or so. But I have run into an unexpected issue this winter…I’m having trouble keeping the battery in my solar-powered watch charged!



When I bought this Casio Pro-Trek last summer, I congratulated myself on my shrewdness. Never again would I have to face the inevitable day when all of my watches (and I have an extension collection) were dead at the same time because I kept putting off the trip to the jeweler to have the the batteries replaced. No matter what, I would always have at least one watch that worked!

Now I’m not so sure. It’s very high-tech and actually de-activates non-critical functions as the battery’s charge fades. So far I haven’t missed an appointment (or the train), but I have taken to parking it under a desk lamp in the living room during the evening hours, which seems to be maintaining the battery at a medium charge level.

That will have to do until I figure out a way to spend winters in Greece.

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tags: sweden  winter  darkness  

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