Sunny mind games, especially on weekends

The problem with the British summer is that it has the ability to get you to reconsider things. Maybe the winter isn't so bad, maybe the country isn't that glum. People are in better moods, birds are chirping in the trees and we are all walking around in our shorts event when the wind does usually gives us a chill.

The problem is obviously now the big question of "Is it better anywhere else?" Taking family out of the equation, there are winters in Australia and England and South Africa. As another blogger so adequately put it, "you need to take the rubbish out here too".

I guess the difference is the extent of the "outdoor" lifestyle. In UK we go sit in parks, in Australia they sit next to the sea. In England we have a pint next to the river... not sure what the same thing is in Oz but I'm assuming you drink a pint on the beach.

You can not help bring into the equation that a sane person can actually go into the water in Oz in summer. I've tried it in UK once it was freezing!

So now, waiting for the winter to set in again for our moods to shift towards sunnier dreams again. I'm contently enjoying the British summer. Let see how the mood shifts when it gets dark at 4pm next.

February Snow in London while Australia heats up

Most people will remember last week. Most because they got a day off work, some because school was cancelled, and yet others for being able to build their first snowman. Which all in all put London in a better mood, neighbors taked, strangers had snow ball fights, couples got to go play outside in the snow and post their snowy accomplishments on facebook. It was a good day, at least for peoples spirits.
Unfortunately snow means amongst other things that its cold, very cold, and the week after the snow was bitterly cold helped allong with sleet and rain. It was cold ok (I think you get it). Yet somehow it was OK, as if the snow somehow promised that spring was on its way or it can only get better now, or at the very least, this is as bad as its going to get before it gets better.

At the same time we are struggling with the cold the Ausies seem to be struggling with the heat. I have some friends there who say people had similar days off because of the heat. Even the train-lines went down because the lines "buckled". So while we were covering up in layer after layer over there they had the fans on full. Good week for utility companies all around the world it seems. Unfortunately just like our snow and ice is causing some accidents on our roads, and some bruised knees (and more) this side, in Australia the heat wave seems to be a little more destructive with the great fires raging there that's killed more than a 100 people so far.

It really does make me wonder about how quickly we are going to have a real live version of "the Day after Tomorrow" situation. At least we all know to head for the library and start burning books. Then again UK will probably be 100 meters under water... So maybe saying that Australia wins this round.

Climate in a nut shell

London England has about 1500 hours of sunshine a year which add up to about 62.5 days a year (Not all the same day usually) and thats about as good as it gets in the UK, you could possibly get a couple more sunny days in Kent if you're lucky. The average tempratures in winter is about 6'C and in summer 22'C.
Sydney Australia has about 103 days of sunshine with summer 25'C and winter around 12'C. However you could always live in Brisbane which has a Summer of around 25'C and winter around 16'C but it has about 243 days of sunshine a year!

Weather Issues

We had 2 weeks of absolutely miserable weather for the last 2 weeks. However with the sunshine over the weekend and the sun just about shining today the mood suddenly lifts again and all seems well in the world. The problem is that no amount of "pep talks" you have with yourself while the weather is miserable really helps you to not get a bit sour. I've never been in Australia but we looked at some charts about the amount of Sunny days per month they have. Even in Sydney that has more annual rain fall that London, does seem to have more sunny days in any given month than gray ones. The questions are as always the obvious, should you use the weather as a drive for you to leave a country? Problem at the moment I think is that Africa sun is still flowing pretty strongly in our veins and got now at least in our heart I think we will lean towards the sunnier option. Its going to be a long road to the end of this decision so we'll see how we feel in a couple of weeks/months hopefully not years.