Weather confusion

I’m seeing a lot of social media posts from local (SA) people who have chosen to head to Blighty for a Christmas or New Year break. And in so many of them, the caption is something along the lines of:

A quick shot of us all before the rain started again…

or:

It’s another grey day in London…

Oh. I’m sorry. What exactly were you expecting from the UK in the middle of winter? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain?

This is, after all, a country which you regularly ridicule for ‘not having a summer’, and yet you’re irritated by the fact that it does winter things in winter? Weirdos.

Can I suggest that if you were looking for something warmer and drier, you used your Rands to go somewhere… well… warmer and drier?

More sunshine, but probably less Buckingham Palace.

Honestly though, moaning about the inclement UK weather in early January just makes you look daft. Rather head over there when the weather is better.

I think they have that planned for 2pm on July 23rd this year. But do check nearer the time.

Wery Welcome Winter Weather

I’m probably the only one thinking it. I’m probably the only one spelling Very with a W too, but that’s another story. Yes, Cape Town’s wet and windy weather this morning came as a pleasant interlude to the bright, winter sunshine for me, mainly because I’ve lost my sunglasses.

wpid-wp-1405592774259.jpeg

Yes. Exactly. It’s because we’re only just past the winter equinox here that the sun is currently only getting to a maximum of about 35º above the horizon. And that’s at (today, anyway) 12:52pm. At 8am, the time when I like to set off for work during the school holidays, it’s about 11º up, which is about the same as saying RIGHT THROUGH YOUR WINDSCREEN AND IN YOUR FACE!

Talking about the sun, Cape Town moves back into having a sunset after 6pm as from the next Tuesday, 22nd July. This definitely makes for easier post work sundowners on Camps Bay beach. And in case you’re thinking that sundowners on Camps Bay beach can’t actually be done in July, you’re wrong, as I proved at 17:46:29 on the 11th of July, last year:

I’m pretty sure that sunglasses were used on that occasion.