Southerly chill
We have woken to a real southerly chill this morning, the coldest walk down the beach I have had this year. And Stephen even has the door shut. Generally, the ranch slider is wide open from the moment we get up until dark. That must be saying something.
Our house does not get much sunshine, particularly at this time of the year so it makes things even colder. I can imagine how people are feeling who live further south.
But the positive thing for us is we now have insulation, after taking advantage of the Government’s insulation initiative last year. As well, we have a heat pump, which, should things get really dire, we can turn on with the flick of a switch. These changes have made a huge difference to this house. Before, we could never get truly warm, and would often go to bed cold. Now an hour with the heat pump and the house is toasty, and getting into bed is a delight. I do feel for those people who are homeless or for whatever reason, live in a substandard house that does not provide warmth. By others’ standards, we don’t get cold in this part of the country. But by our own, we feel it just as much as everyone else, because we acclimatise. Our summers are hotter so we definitely feel the contrast coming into winter. For most people who move to the Far North, the first winter is spent running around with just a tee shirt on, but by the second, people are wrapped up warmly.
Talking of cold, I remember the winters in Pio Pio and Aria. Now those were cold. Often the frosts would be followed by beautiful days which helped compensate for the cold mornings. But in the same token, houses were built for the cold with good fireplaces and thermal curtains. Up here, many places have never had a fireplace.
I remember one winter, my husband and I going pig hunting into the bush, armed with our small tent. We slept in all the clothes we had with us and were still cold. On waking, there was a super thick layer of frost on the small clearing we were camped in. Another time in England, I had my introduction to even colder temperatures. I was flatting in a three-story house in Bath, my room being small and equipped with a tiny gas heater. That was where I learnt to dress with multiple layers. One had to. I washed my hair one morning and went out for a walk. Soon the wet bits around my hair were freezing and I was able to snap the icicles on my head. I probably had a couple of singlets on and two or three jumpers to keep warm that day and I made a note to myself not to wash my hair in the morning again.
My memories of childhood were of extremely cold mornings with frosts everywhere. I was always cold at school, though a big boiler system operated, which pumped hot water into the heaters in our classrooms. Evenings, we had a huge open log fireplace which helped keep us reasonably warm. Each night my dad would fill his arms up with a batten-length load of firewood, which was burned every night. There weren’t eiderdowns in those days. Wool was what kept us warm. Today, a lot of our clothing is synthetic or partly synthetic, including the jersey I am wearing this morning, which never provides the same warmth as the jerseys of old did.
I see there is a large cloud blocking the sun’s attempts to come out this morning, making me feel even colder. Brrrr. Maybe just once, we will utilise the heat pump in the morning…In the time that it took to transfer this blog from Word to this site, I heard the familiar roll of the ranch slider door, and a glance, I see it is back to its daytime default position ie. wide open, so there goes the heat pump plans. I can feel the coldness even more now too. Guess it is time to layer up.