“Relatively” Cold

I know that feeling cold or hot is really a subjective thing and its all relative to what you’re used, but I still chuckle when I see how people act in winter here. To put it in perspective, during summer where I live it is consistently over 35C(95F) for at least 6 months of the year, and consistently over 40C (104F) for about 3 months of the year; in other words, its STINKING HOT.

Fortunately, the winters are not quite so extreme and although it can get cool overnight, the minimums are usually around the 10C(50F) mark. But to the locals, this constitutes FREEZING weather. Today was an example of why I chuckle at this. The forecast for today was sunny, with a high of 31C(88F) and a low of 13C(55F). When we got up and got ready for school it was cool-ish. Cold enough for Guerita to wear her tracksuit for sports day, instead of the skirt, but warm enough that she wanted to tie the jumper around her waist (partly to show me this new skill she has learned – Look, Mum. I can tie it in a knot!).

So we drive up to the school gate and I notice that there are no other kids in the playground. At 10 minutes to 9, I’m pretty sure we’re not the first or the last ones to arrive. The lone teacher on drop off duty (dressed in parka, scarf and gloves) comes to the car to fetch Guerita, so I ask her “¿Dond’estan los niños?” “Where are the kids?”. “¡Hace frio! Estan adentro.” “It’s cold! They are inside.” She hurried Guerita off to her classroom, out of “the elements” and I chuckled.

When we lived in London we saw the reverse of this attitude. The weather in London is pretty grim and over one of the summers that we lived there, I was only able to go to work without an overcoat for 2 months – the rest of the year was COLD (from my perspective ). Londoners would complain about the cold and the rain and pray for a sunny day, but as soon as the temperature crept over 25C(77F) they would be sweltering! All the parks would be filled with sunbathers and everyone was in their flimsiest summer gear. When the mercury reached 30C(86F) the papers screamed “Punishing Heatwave”!

Having lived in some places with extreme heat (Mexico and Saudi) and extreme cold (skifields of Canada and France) I think I’m a bit more objective about hot and cold these days, but after a few seasons in a place, your internal thermostat does start to re-adjust. Maybe after a few more summers here and I’ll be rugging up with the Mexicans, as soon as it drops below 25C(77F)!