Urrrr, its hot today in Sydney.

[hutch--]

Midday temp is 41C and rising, it has already fried 2 of my plants at the front of the house. Over 45C in Sydney's western suburbs, a couple of days ago it was noticably cool here.

[spookietoo]

Ouch! I had to find a Centigrade/Fahrenheit converter - 45C has no meaning, but 113F! That hurts!

Makes me enjoy the 37F we have at the moment. Last night was 12 and I'm in the Southern US. I think New Jersey was 10 degrees warmer. Global warming is playing havoc with us all.

We're back to our "balmy" January norm of 45F next week. Can't wait - and I'll take 45 gray and dreary over 90 with humidity and sunshine anytime!

Stay cool! (You know you are!  )

[Schneiderfrei]

Actually the temp in Sydney made 47.3 C today. Ouch indeed. That's living in the oven.  Mind you it was that temp back in 1939.

[TTailor]

Today is a balmy -13C feeling like -22, up from -26C windchill of -35C yesterday.
It often goes down to -20C at night in the winter if we are having a cold snap, but -20C in the daytime is unusual for us.

Monday they are saying it will be a high of 0C.
I hate the rollercoaster temperatures, and would much rather deal with ongoing cold than the wishy washy weather above 0 in the winter.

I guess it is what you get used to.
I dont think I could cope with 40C. Wow.

[Greger]

The older I get the more I prefer warm. If I have to make a choice between hot and cold I'll take cold any day. You can always add clothes. But, what do you do with hot?

[spookietoo]

I agree, Gregor....with hot you just have to suffer.

When I was a kid, everyone just dealt with it, and you actually do get used to it. But now, everything/everyplace you go is airconditioned. There are those that constantly tout, "I love the heat, I love the sunshine, I love the lake!"

But they, like most others these days, only run outside to flip the burgers on the grill or remove them - and then its back inside to watch the game in the cool airconditioning - completely ignoring their nice patios and porches for 98% of the year.

[hutch--]

I am better in the heat than the cold but well over 43C (110F) is getting a bit hard to handle. I had to go outside a couple of times and it was stubbies and a T shirt and importantly a big hat. In OZ its an Akubra, about the size of a Stetson in the US, so you don't fry your head. You stick to the shade as much as you can but its better to stay inside. Lucky with these old brick houses in terraces that they don't heat up badly. Top story warms up a bit but downstairs stays in the middle 20s (centigrade) ad you really notice it when you come back inside.

The great loss was the damage done to a big plant I have out the front of the house, the heat had by 9am fried the fronds (like leaves) on the philadendron I have there and while the plant is big enough to just grow a new set, it will look like a sack of spuds for the next few months.

[Schneiderfrei]

Ooh, Hutch that sounds nasty.

[TTailor]

This is what I woke up to.

[Greger]

That looks nice, Terri. Snow is amazing stuff, for a while.

[TTailor]

Looks great, I agree. Heavy though. It went up to 0C today, it had snowed all night and stopped around noon today.
A good 20 + cm of fresh wet snow. I had to dig the car out, cleared a 10 foot wide by 20 foot space for the car. I thought about how much all of that weighed, but I dont want to know now.
Ibuprofen and a heating pad is called for tonight.

[hutch--]

Look on the bright side, all that shovelling should help to keep you fit and healthy and its much cheaper than going to a gym.  Now what I am not sure about is who or what gets the ibuprofen and who or what gets the heated pad. The heated pad may be useful to stop the car's fuel system from freezing but I doubt that the ibuprofen would reduce the car's aches and pains.

Its a great photo by the way, the problem for me is I would not last long enough to enjoy the photo as I am no good in the cold.

[Greger]

Years ago mom made some baggies that have rice inside. Put them in the microwave to heat up and they are nice and warm, or slightly hot. They make getting into a cold bed much nicer. One down by my feet and two more for each side of my ribcage and belly. If I lay on my side two more. One between the knees and the other resting on top of knees. Probably a foot long and six inches wide and may be a third full of rice. The one by the feet is twice as big. The three main ones take about 3.5 minutes to heat up in the microwave. They seem kinda silly, but work really nice. Scraps of cloth comes in handy for other things, such as this.

I think doctors nowadays say for old men, "Hire a young man to shovel the snow." Last time or two began thinking that is a good idea. Of course, I'm thinking I'm not really that old yet. But my body is thinking I am. Saves on the pain medication to pay someone else. Don't want to be like other old men who found themselves in the hospital.

Cross country skiing is a lot of fun. Haven't done that for some years. Don't think my body is stretchy enough for downhill skiing, since I would be doing a lot of falling at odd angles. A friend likes snow shoeing up mountains. That is a lot of work, but a nice view.

Yay snow!

[Henry Hall]

In the grass in front of where I live there are more daisies and dandelions than is normally seen at this time of year in western Europe. There are mosquitoes flying about the house. In the garden I still have a tomato plant producing red fruit when usually they are green and have to be ripened indoors. Very odd for November.