Where we stayed. Travelling to perisher for winter.
Hi all, thank you for subscribing to my blog. Its been more than 4 weeks but I still notice subscription to this blog. I do appreciate your support. I have gone on a winter vacation in Australia. It is the second time I am experiencing winter; the difference with this one is that it was snowing heavily in Perisher,Western Australia, where we went.
Where I come from, the temperature is always hot and humid all year round, nothing gives us more excitement and joy than a few weeks cold weather. Give me -4 degree Celsius for a day, I’ll take it. Give me fleecy winter wear and snug boots, I can walk around all day in them. I must admit, though, that I can’t sleep without the heater left on all night at 24 degree Celsius. And you will be jealous to know that I always wake up 5 cm thinner. It is as if my body has to burn off the energy to keep me warm through the night.
A football coach once told me that if it rains, the body will crave for more food to keep warm. So you will tend to eat more. It doesn’t seem to happen to me in winter. When I have so many layers of clothing, I feel totally bloated and will indeed abstain from making any visits to the fridge. I also do not like grocery shopping during winter. As you walk through the isles, you can’t help but notice how fast people want to get what they come for and rush to the checkout. Especially so at the open chillers where I will only dare stand no less than half a meter away from the shelves as I look studiously for discounts and compare prices of different brands of butter, margarine, cheese and milk. They are ordinary, everyday consumer itemsI just can’t help but notice the big difference in price of a 2 litre bottle of milk between Singapore($5.10) andAustralia($2/-).
As I was saying, grocery shoppers want to get their stuff and get to the check out as quickly as they can. This is not the same behaviour I see during summer, a season I now decisively would love to avoid at any cost. It is so hot outside that shopping indoors become a pastime. People take their time to enjoy the cool environment. It is always a deliberate attempt to browse and window shop, not to make a purchase. During winter, it’s grab and go.
Sadly, I am home now, in the tropics. It is 30 degree Celsius outside during the day. My hair looks unkempt all the time. I have to drink at least 4 cups of tea to cool down my body. If I had a few wishes, I would wish for these few things for my tropical summer:
1. An electric blanket that helps my body to cool down. For those who have tried the electric blanket that warms up your body during winter, you will know what it means to have heat so close to your skin, you do not wish to get out of bed to go the toilet. How I loathe the thought of dressing and undressing and then redressing for a short visit to the toilet. The toilet seat is cold, and the floor tiles are cold. As soon as you leave your bed, you know your body has to readjust to the room temperature all over again. But I won’t have to feel this way about summer heat. If I had a blanket that acts a cooler, I wouldn’t need the air conditioner to cool down the room temperature.
2. Frost in the morning on my window panes. I love the morning dew but they just disappear so quickly during summer. Imagine having frost in summer. An impossible occurrence but hey, there is the eclipse and ice did ever fall from the sky. So why not have frost in summer? Maybe there is somewhere on earth where this is already happening which I don’t know about. But it would be so cool to have frost in the morning on the window panes to greet me in the morning before the heat sets in.
3. Lesser laundry. Life is fair. We put on many layers of clothing during winter but have fewer clothes to wash. In summer, you have to wash every piece of clothing you use even if it is just for half the day. Yet the sun and wind are what dries our clothing and there is generous amount of sunlight in summer. You have to admit, it is every housewife’s dream to do less washing and ironing. It really doesn’t matter what weather it is. But if I would certainly wish for more sun and wind during winter.
4. Shorter days and longer nights. Is it possible to have shorter days and longer nights in summer? I haven’t really experienced it before but wherever this place is, I believe it is nice place to be. You want the sunshine but you don’t want to be out in the sun for too long. You want the evening but you wish it never lasts. In winter, it can get so cold, I wish the sun shone longer for my body to warm up to the winter chill.
That is my wish list. I know the grass is not often greener on the other side, so a wish list is a better way to express how I truly enjoyed my winter holidays. You see smiles 🙂 on people’s faces at the first sight of snow. You hear children’s laughter and adults could simply listen to themselves because their bodies yearn for attention to be kept warm. There is also less things to worry about like whether fruits will stay fresh longer outside the fridge. As one local grocer said to me, “My fridge is my heater at the moment.”
Will you trade places with me?
My summer for your winter is probably not too much to ask, is it? Do you notice how our eyes start to smile and you can literally feel the glitter when you talk about winter? It is like having ice cream on a hot summer day. When you talk about summer, the word ‘hot’ itself takes you away from the charm of nature. You fan yourself as you say the word, as if the person listening doesn’t understand how much you are suffering from the heat wave. On the contrary, you clasp your hands together and hug yourself to fill your body with the warmth of your winter clothing when talking about how cold the weather is. Perhaps that’s where the secret of winter lies. The hug you can give to yourself even when no one else is close enough to touch you.
