Thursday, April 18, 2024

If someone from a Northern country moved to the tropics, would they miss the snow and cold?

Yes, this one did. I love feeling the cold, now.

In the Far East on a hot summer night, unable to sleep and with the aircon blowing clouds into the apartment, my wife and I would go to a local hotel (with powerful, centralised aircon) for ice cream sodas.

It’s the humidity that’s the problem and at 100%, water runs down the walls (and goes mouldy very quickly).

In West Africa, I’d lie in bath of cold water, stirring it with my feet to keep it from warming, but by the time I got out and dried off, I was dripping with sweat again.

In southern Spain, on a hot summer’s evening, I would visit a restaurant on a mountaintop, to sit on a terrace and enjoy the cool, sea breezes. I worked outside and at day’s end, I just kicked off my boots and dived into the pool; hopefully a cold beer was awaiting, too.

My dream was to go far north - Iceland - and lie on a glacier. Just stretch out on the ice and hear it sizzle as it melts.

Now I live back in England, I enjoy going out in cold weather and feeling the chill air. When others dress up, I dress down. Decades of steamy climes have given me a dread of a hot sun.

On the other hand, I have stayed in the far, far north, where the sea freezes solid for months and at many degrees below zero, I find that extreme cold is like fire, burning your exposed skin. Not at all pleasant.

Of the two, I prefer cold, because you should always be able to keep warm: hot food and drink, warm clothes and exercise. But in the tropics without aircon, one is helpless, just having to suffer.

Sweden probably has the perfect climate for me, or a chalet on a Swiss alp. Hmm, where’s my passport?

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