When I was in India, one elderly gentleman was chatting to me about Australia. He said “it is hot, right?” I said, well, yes, “in summer, in Adelaide, it can be hot.”
He said “40 degrees (celcius)? That is hot. How do you bear it?” This is from a man in Kerala, India, where it is beautifully tropical all year. 40C is approx. 112F.
“Well, yes, but not ALL the time. For a day or two. The rest of summer is somewhere between 25C and 35C. Really nice.”
“Yes, but 40 degrees.” Shakes head. “How do you bear it?”
That conversation comes back to me today. The weather here is HOT right now. Summer was one of the hottest summers on record.
It is March now, Autumn, and the average temperature is supposed to be 25C. This year it is around 38C (about 105F) average maximum temperature. For 17 days now, we have had near 40C temperatures. There is no end in sight. For at least the next few days it will maintain that energy-sapping, scorching heat. Yes, officially, it is “stinkin’ hot”.
Yet, it is Autumn. Unmistakeably Autumn. Leaves are falling. Clogging gutters. Trees are yellow. Sunrise is later. The sun has shifted and shines through my window in the early morning. The light is gentler, softer, heading towards that golden light that so typifies autumn here.
I am so confused.
It feels like summer. I want to eat icecream and iced coffee.
It looks like autumn. I want to bring out the lovely soft rug for snuggling at night in the cool, and walk through piles of leaves. I look at cabbage recipes and pumpkin recipes. Bring on baked apples.
I don’t want summer to end.
But I want it to look like summer, smell like summer and feel like summer.
Will have to wait another 10 months for that.
…Sigh….!
[Update: we have a cool change today - a drop in temperature to 30C (approx 92F)!! Still hot, but in comparison so very chilly 
.]
All photos taken at night without a tripod, helped by street lighting. At this time of year the sky is an amazing blue after sunset, for about 2 hours. Really beautiful.
Also, all temperature conversions were done with the “back of the envelope” formula of “double the celcius temperature and add 32 to get F temps”. This is not precise, but gives approximate temperatures within a degree or two.
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Hello there. I was sent a link to your blog by a friend a while ago. I have been reading a long for a while now. Just wanted to say HI. Thanks for putting in all the hard work.
Jennifer Lancey
Hi Jennifer, great to see you here, and thank you so much for your appreciation. I hope we see you here again.
The weather is behaving strangely here as well…we had a relatively mild winter and since the last couple of days , the temperatures have been making a steep drop
So many strange weather patterns this year! I hope you are able to bear the cold Ok.
I heard today that our hot spell is a “once in every 3000 years” event!
Vegeyum, Out here in northeast US we are just stepping into spring, and I am more than tired of the winter which definitely overstayed its welcome this year. Your post made me happy about the summer to come, although it can get pretty hot here in DC too.
Oh I am so glad. Yes, I am not a great lover of cold weather, so I can understand. Wishing you the best of warm long days for the next few months. I might have to come and visit if it gets too cold and windy here.
aah summer! just round the corner, are you…?
but, if not for the winter, i would not enjoy thee…:)
So true, so true…