Hot/Cold
Currently it seems many places are having some extreme weather. Actually, something my girlfriend mentioned earlier this year as that Australia appears to be in a perma-crisis. Shuffling from bushfires to covid to flooding to (now) heatwave, we're just continually pummeled by bad weather and bad news.
The last few days have been HOT here, with yesterday topping out at close to 40 degrees which, for someone who lives in a bit of a heat island, definitely is unpleasant (I'm typing this in a room on the third floor that gets morning light and lots of it, so I'm usually roasting).
On the flip side, the USA is in some intense blizzard/snow/chill, and a week or two ago the UK got blanketed in snow (though I don't think this was too bad). I keep reading about countries working through a heatless winter due to Putin's war, and how some of the conditions are unseasonably bad. It seems a lot of places are going through some extremes.
For most of my life I've thought I was a cold weather person. Summer was (and still is) my least favourite season here in Melbourne. With it's stinking hot days, fierce oven-like winds, sunburn, sweat and long, sleepless nights, I just always feel like I'm done with summer more quickly than other seasons.
However, what I learned one trip to the USA in winter was that winter can stop me. Some days I just really, really didn't want to leave the hotel. I was completely fed up with being cold and shivering, and if my girlfriend wasn't there, I think I would have had a few movie days inside. NYC and Chicago, especially, just crushed me.
On the flip side, when I travel to Italy during summer, or Thailand or Malaysia, I still do things. Yes I'm a bit miserable and take 2-4 showers a day. Yes I wish it was less hot, humid and unpleasant, but I still get out and do stuff. Did this mean that I, Matt Dunne, hater of summer, was actually a warm weather person? I think that, for better or worse, it did mean that.
See I've grown up in a warm climate, I've lived in a hot climate, I've worked through the hottest day on record and while I don't like these things, ultimately I'm used to living with them. I've walked to the supermarket while my heart bounced in my chest working to keep me cool, I've attended staff Christmas parties in 45 degree heat, I spent much of my life living without airconditioning and just getting by with a ceiling fan (which is an amazing tool). When you add all these things up it's not that I like summer (I don't), but that I can cope with it.
On the other hand, those deep Northern Hemisphere winters are much more challenging. The UK I could do, and it wasn't a problem. But the USA, Canada, Northern Europe? Hmmmm, it's harder for me.
So here's the last email of 2022 from me, a reluctant hot weather person, to you, wherever you are. I hope the extremes aren't too bad for you.