Winter in Mudgee

Someone told me tonight that there are two weeks left of winter.  I don't know if that is true, but I am clinging to that hope like a drowning person clings to a life raft.  Dave has been told that we have made it through the worst of the winter.  Oh we hope so.

You see, before we came over here we arrogantly thought that a "winter" temperature of 7 degrees during the day and "as cold as -3" overnight was child's play. I mean, let's face it.  We are Canadians.

 

We tell anyone who will listen that we drink beer and fish in the ice and can handle the cold. We have a worldwide reputation for being tough as nails.  I have to say that this Canadian now sees the huge difference between a 7 degree day in Canada and a 7 degree day in Australia.  The main point of discussion being THAT THE AUSTRALIANS DON'T BOTHER TO HEAT THEIR HOUSES.  I was told this before I came and I will admit that I didn't understand it either.  

So go to your cottage, up by the lake for Thanksgiving this year.  Go on.  Now spend 3 months there.  No heat.  The windows providing absolutely no protection against the wind because they don't seal properly.  Go on.  Tell me you love it.  Tell me that you are prepared to decide between having your bare feet on the freezing cold tile floor or your poor defenseless backside against the toilet seat made of ice.  Two choices.  Neither one good.

On that 7 degree day a Canadian will look out of the window of their house, heated (very energy efficiently I might add) to somewhere between 19-24 degrees. You know, whatever temperature they FEEL LIKE HEATING IT TO.  They will think that it looks lovely outside.  If they are me they will open the window for an hour or so to catch the spring air.  Then they will close it up and go back to the climate controlled environs.  They will think they are tough.

Aussies are tough.  It gets down to 7 degrees and they dislike it.  Like really, really dislike it.  Despite the technology having existed for decades, they can't be bothered to do anything to fix the situation.  Now THAT is tough.  Honestly though, what do you expect from a nation of people who get hot when it hits 40 degrees and head to the beach.  A beach on water filled with crocodiles, great white sharks and jellyfish that will make you pray for death.  Just to prove that point Mick Fanning, an Australian, got in to a tangle with a shark this past weekend and KICKED IT'S ASS.

So Australians are tough as nails. Canadians are fortunate to enjoy the luxuries that we do in Canadian extremes.

*This post was typed from the couch, in front of a roaring fire while in a sleeping bag.