WINTER
Having spent the first half of my life in the Northern Hemisphere where Winter can be described as cold, chilly, bitter, harsh, dismal and dreary by some (or should I probably say “most” ), I find that living in the Southern hemisphere in the ‘Land of Plenty’ still quite a novelty in that respect. Winter has a start date and an end date it seems. 1st June is our Winter right through until 31st August and do you know what? It seems that right on the very day, the season does change. Almost as if MN (Mother Nature) and her cockatoos have a clock set on timer and the season begins or ends as programmed.
Mind you, when I say Winter, I really mean “just a bit cooler than you have just felt for the past 8 or 9 months!”.
In my previous homeland, Winter seemed to last for the 8 or 9 months and you got used to it. The daily greetings of friends and strangers always made mention of the weather. “It’s looking like rain luv. Better get the washing in or, “we won’t be going far today; the snow is over the ankles. Don’t want to get frostbite”! It became part of my mantra too although I had a different perspective. “It snowed overnight mum, won’t be going to school today!” or “can I borrow the car Dad, its pouring down and I can’t get wet. Mum said!”
Winter meant that most of the time was spent indoors, trying to keep the draughts out and keep warm, only going out if you had too. Grey skies dropping to the grey houses clustered on grey streets and the faces on the street seemed grey too under their grey collars but it was all I knew until…………
I experienced winter ‘down under’.
Winter, what winter? This continent is big enough that you can more or less choose what season you want to live in. In the north of the land Winter means the night temperature drops rapidly but during the day the heat is more acceptable, the humidity is lower and there is less rainfall and snow is a phenomenon. The south of the continent is more extreme. You ‘rug up’ against the cold, the snow ski fields are straining under the snow skiers, sleds and snowman builders and mulled wine being the tipple of the evening.
Here, my winter has slow pink sunrises giving way to bright morning sunshine with crisp breezes touching my skin before the afternoon starts its slide into early darkness and the creeping up of sudden coldness as a Winter night rests upon us.
It fascinates me still.
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