Naughty Jack Frost has decided to bring the cold a little earlier this year, or maybe it's just colder where we live now which is away from the coast. This time last year we had been in our home only a few months so maybe we didn't notice the cold, or maybe the climate is different this year.
Along with the chilling temperatures and all the stress of starting school, the first round of illnesses are upon us. Bethany has the best immune system in the world and is never ill (and neither am I), yet Bethany and I have both ended up with a horrible cold which we are finding hard to shake off.
Bethany is still going to school despite my efforts to keep her off (and my worries of infecting others at school), but the teachers are adamant to keep taking her if she wants to go. One of the teachers said that they would have an empty school if it came to keeping sick children off - not sure if thats something to boast about or not!
Yesterday morning Bethany aka, Little Miss Iceblock raced to our bed in an attempt to get warm, it was 6 degrees outside and probably inside too. Kiwi's always laugh when I mention how cold it is, they always follow it up with a 'but the winter is worse in the UK isn't it?' and they are right, it is colder and the winters are rough - but not inside the house where you have double glazing, central heating and all that brick to compensate!
Unless you are rich or have a newly built house there is no central heating here, it's a brand new concept to Kiwis. In our last house we were lucky enough to have a log burner, that was fantastic during winter - this house now that we are in has absolutely nothing. Our wooden home was built early 1980's and this meant it was never rigged up with any type of heating, sun was the natural option then. Of course the years have changed dramatically - so for us it's back to condensation drawings!
So in the spirit of winter I cooked a nice roast pork dinner tonight, it included my most favourite vegetable - one that will always remind me of sitting around the family dinner table at Christmas time whilst watching the snow slowly fall outside. Oh how I could just pop up the Christmas Tree now!It's the good old Brussel Sprout!
I'm not ready of prepared for winter this year, I have all my winter veggies ready and am looking forward to some winter sowing and growing but I could leave everything else. The last few years haven't been very consistent so it's always a suprise when one day it's a high 25 degrees and the next a tiny 9 degrees.
It's still confusing, these New Zealand seasons are without doubt going to perplex us for many years to come. Until we understand them we will just do as they do down under and 'rug up warm'.
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