Love Affair with the weather

[girliejones]

Have you ever noticed how the hotter it gets, the more obsessed people become with talking about it - how they have to dissect it in minute detail, noting when the breeze came in, trying to figure out at exactly which minute after 9am it hit 30deg C, debating exactly how hot the prediction is for today and at what time that will happen

Comments

[narrelle]

When I lived in Freo it was all about the Fremantle Doctor coming in at around six. In summer we just lived for six o'clock. Now I live in Melbourne and it's all just, 'wait a few days' and sure enough, you get a ten degree drop within a couple of days of the scorcher.

And when I moved from Perth to Melbourne, you wouldn't believe the comments I got on how much I would miss Perth's weather. All that stinky, sweaty, not-dropping-below-28C- for-a-month summer heat? Nope. Can't say that I miss it in the slightest.

LOL. And here I am... talking about the weather...

[girliejones]

Heh!!

And you know now with daylight saving, the breeze doesn't come in till 7pm. And if you live more east than Freo ... well ... you know the conversations!

[narrelle]

Oh yes indeedy. Actually, before the move, Rick Kennett wrote to me to warn me about 'a strange phenomenon we have in Melbourne. It's called 'weather'. You may not be familiar with it.' I suppose in Perth it only gets talked about when it's really stinking hot, and then it's almost like Perthites are really proud of it. They like to talk about how hot it got and for how long in their area, as though it's a competition to see who got most sunburnt. Melburnians compete to see who copped the most rain.

[girliejones]

Heh, that's it exactly. And the unexpectedness of Melb weather - the concept of layering your clothes and taking an umbrella with you *anyway*

[narrelle]

Umbrellas have magical powers. If you remember to take it with you, it doesn't rain. If you leave it at home, certain city streets become the flooding creeks they once were. The street where I live, for example.

[girliejones]

Always been my experience in Melbourne too!

[narrelle]

Please note that I am not complaining, though. I love my adopted home town. I *picked* it, after all. I like the changeability. If the weather is crap, it doesn't stay crap for long (though likewise it never stays brilliant for long...) But the unpredictable weather has contributed to the rich cultural *indoor* life of this city - theatre, cafes, bars, bookshops. And there is a certain endearing optimism of a town where people see a patch of blue and decide that it's going to be a beautiful day! Not to mention the sheer bloody mindedness and this-is-going-to-work-ness of insisting on having outdoor events in summer.

I love my town!

[girliejones]

See I think you don't really care about the weather in melb cause you're too busy living the life - at least that's how I always am when there. It's my adopted home town and I have an uncle there so I have visited a lot. Yeah it rains but it's never so bad that it stops you doing stuff.

[narrelle]

And if it does get really bad - there are all these lovely bookshops and cafes and galleries and museums to go hide in until it's safe to emerge again!

[girliejones]

ahhh ... sounds good on a day like today.