I am sitting typing this with two jumpers and a large pink and extremely fluffy dressing gown on. It is freezing. We were warned on the news last night that a wintry blast was due to travel up the country from the south and it has well and truly arrived this morning.
The girls are very excited as you can see snow on the hills across the valley. Its just cold and wet in Whitby itself but it does look a bit like a winter wonderland across the top of the Puatahanui hills.
We are no longer equipped as a family to cope with this level of cold. When we first moved here from Brussels over two and a half years ago now, we left behind a foot of snow on the streets of the Belgian capital and arrived in New Zealand to the last rays of a hot summer. We have since had little need for our multitude of woolly hats scarfs and gloves. However every now and then the wet wintry weather suddenly surprises with a particularly cold blast. This is why the other half was getting very agitated this morning at his inability to find the other half of a pair of long lost thermal gloves and any woolly hats whatsoever.
The climate in this part of New Zealand is not that much warmer than most of northern Europe. Don't get taken in by the local populations ability to continue wearing shorts and jangles even though the temperature is in single digits. It can get cold and the houses are extremely chilly, as I have repeatedly stated many times before!
I was having a chat with a group of friends a few weeks ago when the subject of "Earthquake weather" came up. Now having gained a Geography degree many years ago I was adamant that the weather has absolutely no influence on earthquakes whatsoever. However the locals where unconvinced. They began to swap stories from childhood ,when they knew earthquakes would be more likely to occur in wet windy and blustery weather. Hogwash, rubbish and just plain nuts. These were the thoughts that went through my head. But I was far to polite to voice them!
But...several times now we appear to have had earthquakes in just this weather. Last night, as the house was being shaken repeatedly by gusts of wind, Indiana Jones and the the last Crusade was rudely interrupted by a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. Perhaps there is something to this "earthquake weather" theory. However when you google "earthquake weather" it seems to suggest that they should occur in calm, clear days not blustery cold windy ones. According to that theory, we should be fine in Wellington. I can't remember that last calm clear day we had!
Brr! Looks really chilly! And I hear you, Southern Hemisperians do not acknowledge the fact that they are cold. Our houses aren't equipped for any of the cold weather. But, hopefully for now, the earthquakes have subsided! :)
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