'tis the seasons

Today is the first day of winter. I know what you’re thinking. The solstice isn’t until the 21st of the month. I can’t tell you why, but in Australia the seasons change on June 1st, September 1st, December 1st and well, you get the point. Today’s weather outlook is sunny and a high of 66 degrees farenheight. If I were a weather professional (which I may have been in a past life) I’d sum up Perth’s seasons as such. Summer -dry, damn hot, not a cloud in sight, every day. Autumn -pretty much like summer but only 80 degrees instead of 100 and the odd cloud or passing shower. Winter- 60’s, a lot of rain after months of no rain. Spring- pretty much like autumn.

It’s green year round aside from the odd deciduous tree. The other evening Shane, Bronson and I were walking back from the foreshore. It was the end of a beautiful day and we passed a maple tree in someone’s yard. The smell of freshly dropped leaves caught my attention so I took a moment with the sunset against my back and the cool air tousling my hair to admire the orange and yellow leaves. Shane stopped, asked what the hell I was doing and I said, “this is autumn to me.” Very clearly, it did not elicit the same response for him. The sights, smells and sounds of my youth are much different to his and it’s funny for me to think of us as children living very different lives.

In Perth you’re constantly aware of the temperature outside because hot or cold, you can’t escape it. This is because many homes do not have ducted air conditioning or heating. In the summer, your house is incredibly hot and in winter, even a 60 degree day can make a poorly insulated home very cold. Only newer model homes have heating and cooling and that’s if you can afford it. What many people do have is a wall mounted unit that serves to heat or cool one room in the house, most typically the living area. When it’s 110 outside, Shane and I will sleep in the living area with the wall unit blasting and in the winter we are snuggled up to the gas heater in layers of clothing. For Bronson, this translates to sleeping on his back, all fours in the air during summer and snuggled up in a ball, nose in tail in the winter.

A Canadian friend who has lived in Australia for several years once commented that the coldest he’s been was in his house, in Perth, during the winter. A Canadian, people! I mean, I have yet to visit Canada but I lived in Chicago for 5 years and I imagine it’s something like that.

These are the memories of Shane’s youth. Everyone huddled by a portable heater in the winter and sleeping in a bed of sweat in the summer. It’s been an adjustment I admit. Back home people will flip the switch of their heating and air conditioning without a second thought and sometimes they’ll use both in the same day. You can always escape the weather in the comfort of your own home.

Living as one with the elements has its advantages. Your gas and electricity bills don’t take a beating and saving all that energy must be good for the environment. I should also add that many people don’t have a clothing dryer or dishwasher. All our clothes hang out on a clothing line. Shane had to give me a few tips on appropriate peg (clothing pin) usage and I can now pretty much predict with certainty what time my clothes will dry based on the time of year and time of day. I thought my first apartment out of college would be the only time I’d live without a dishwasher. Shane hates my method of cleaning the dishes. I waste way too much water and my soap to water ratio doesn’t produce the appropriate amount of suds which is why I’m in charge of cooking and he’s in charge of dishes.

I’m no saint by any means, but I do try. I recycle, shut down my computer at night, and turn off the sink when brushing my teeth. But, when sweating my butt off and given the opportunity to keep cool at the expense of a few bucks and a bit of electricity, that’s exactly what I’ll do. However, some day when I’m reintroduced to the luxury of ducted air conditioning and modern appliances I’ll think twice before flipping the switch; partly because it’s not so bad going without those amenities and it’s better for our planet. But also because I’ll get some gentle encouragement from my husband who has managed to survive a lifetime without them, in which my response will be that the money saved from not running the air con will be spent on a new shirt…which I will dry on the clothing line.