Thursday, October 8, 2009

Why we discuss the weather so often

Last month I wore shorts and dresses to work and was looking forward to a beautiful summer.

Last weekend more than 100 cars were stranded on the Napier-Taupo road (in the warmer North Island) because of a massive snow dump. Their passengers had to be rescued by the army in their unimogs, and members of the local four-wheel drive club. We had snow on the hills here too.

This photo …


… was taken on Monday while walking through the Botanical Gardens on my way back to work after visiting the dentist. The cream tulips with a sprinkling of red poppies look gorgeous at the moment - but look at the sky. The weather was beautiful again. Now we've just had another severe weather warning for the next few days.

University exams begin very soon though, and in all the years I've lived here, we've always had hot weather during exams. I well remember sitting in exam rooms 25 years ago with all the doors open and wearing as few clothes as I could get away with, sweating onto my exam scripts. Of course the weather packs in again as soon as exams are finished and you'd really appreciate some sun.

We don't have climate here, we have weather. You never know what it's going to be like, which makes it very difficult to dress appropriately in the mornings.

We've just had another tsunami warning too - not that we're likely to see any here in Dunedin, but those poor people in the Pacific! Some of those people in Samoa have only just been coaxed out of the hills where they fled after last week's tsunami. Hopefully this warning comes to nothing.

1 comment:

  1. I was driving in a torrential storm this afternoon! a bit scarrrry!

    ReplyDelete