Is this really summer?

When I first moved to Scotland last September, I thought the winter would be brutally cold since St Andrews is on the same latitude as southern Alaska at 56º North. We're also further north than Chicago (41º), Montreal (45º), and Edmonton (53º). However, the jet stream brings warm air from the Gulf of Mexico and across the Atlantic so that Britain is much more temperate than other places this far north. At least that's what I learned from watching How the Earth Was Made on the History Channel, and maybe the documentary was wrong. Instead of getting thick layers of snow that would require me to shovel my way out of my front door, we only got a few inches that stuck around for a few weeks around Christmas and New Years. Granted, this past winter was allegedly the coldest winter in 30 years, but it was hardly what I expected.

The winter is officially gone, but I hardly feel like it should be spring or summer (since Mississippi doesn't really have a true 'spring' but only a couple weeks of mild temperature before the unbearable summer heat starts, spring and summer are practically the same season for me). I'll look out my window and decide that it should be warm because it's sunny, but then I'll step outside in short sleeves and realize that it's actually quite frigid. These experiences taught me to go ahead and wear a coat even if I think it's cold, but then I'll step outside and realize it's actually warm even though it's only 55º or 60º F (13º to 15º C). I'll then leave my coat at home but regret this decision later when the wind picks back up. As far as I'm concerned, it's not really spring or summer if I have to wear a coat, even at night. Recently, the temperature got up to 79º F (26º C), and everyone here went crazy and went swimming even though the North Sea is still kinda chilly. On this particular day 80º F was the low back in Houston, TX. Though it doesn't feel like "spring" or "summer," I do like this cooler summer because I can actually enjoy spending time outside whereas the Gulf Coast heat and humidity makes being outside unbearable.

I do not, however, like the sunrises at or before 4 am. My window faces east so that the sunrise has been waking me up rather early every morning, and this has ruined my sleeping habits lately. I don't have any curtains or even a curtain rod, and I can't go back to sleep with so much light in my room. Maybe I'll buy an eye mask later or rearrange my room so that the light doesn't shine directly onto my bed.