NOTE: In Australia, bloody used to be a swear word, plain and simple. It was socially unacceptable to use it in polite company, especially in front of the ladies, until sometime back when, someone referred to it as the Great Australian Adjective. Since then, it is no longer considered a swear word but an adjective used for emphatic effect. Just goes to show you how the character of a word can be changed while retaining its essential meaning.
It’s bloody cold, mate, that's all I can say!
NOTE: Whenever anyone declares "That’s all I can say", be prepared for the lengthy speech to follow.
It isn’t supposed to be cold this time of year – it isn’t supposed to be cold any time of the year here! That’s why I moved here, to get away from bloody cold Winters!
NOTE: My move here was not due to a consciously considered decision to live in a warmer climate – my moving here was a happy, opportunistic accident – but when in the throes of a tirade against bloody cold weather, the rational, the accurate and the truth have no place and do not count.
I know the locals call this Winter but, technically, it’s The Dry. This is the Tropics – there’s only two seasons: The Wet (stinking hot, humid with torrential rain) and The Dry (warm days, cool nights, no rain – paradise weather). A Cool Temperate-style Winter, such as they have in the south, is not supposed to be part of a tropical climate. Even a Warm Temperate-style Winter, such as they have in Sydney, is not supposed to be part of the tropical weather outlook.
NOTE: It's unusually cold here, yes, but it's nothing like a Warm Temperate Winter, let alone a Cool Temperate Winter. It's more like early Autumn in a Temperate zone, cool but not freezing cold. If I were back in Tasmania, this would be considered relatively pleasant but because I've acclimatized to the Tropics now, this unusual drop in temperature feels colder than it actually is.
My desk is on the back veranda which is open to the elements, and it’s bloody cold out here. Mind you, it’s just as cold inside as out – homes in the Tropics aren’t kitted out with heating devices because they’re considered unnecessary. Hah! Tell that to my chilled fingers, ears and nose!
Tropical clothing doesn’t provide much help either so I’ve been down in the basement, rummaging through dusty suitcases in order to unearth some warm clothing. As I recall, from living half my life in a Cool Temperate zone, layers of clothing was the thing. So I’m wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pyjama pants, tee-shirt, long-sleeved top and a lovely warm woolly sweater I managed to find in an old suitcase. There comes a time when a certain amount of hoarding, such as that of favorite clothing items, comes in very useful.
It’s bloody cold here; I swear this wind comes directly from the Antarctic...
NOTE: This is impossible because I live too far north, closer to the Equator in fact than the Antarctic but facts do not count in a tirade.
...and it’s raining again; feels like sleet to me. I can feel my eyelashes icing up.
NOTE: Again, this isn’t the case; it’s a light shower at best and we’re too far north for frozen rain - or iced eyelashes.
I want The Dry season back as promised by those who promote living in the Tropics. This bloody cold weather is just wrong!
NOTE: I think I’m beginning to see how Republicans come to frame their "arguments"...