Going slightly mad...
You know something's very very wrong when you resort to doing household chores to warm yourself up. You know, ironing: heat source in itself; washing-up: mmm hot water; hoovering: gets the heart-rate rising and a small brow-bead does form. And it would be wrong enough to be doing that in England and its Baltic winters, but in Hong Kong?? Isn't this supposed to be the Land of the Rising Sun? Or am I confused with the House of the Rising Sun? No, that can't be right as everyone knows that's in New Orleans. But, I digress.
You'd be forgiven for thinking, especially with the blog just 2 weeks ago, that I'm somewhat obsessed with the weather. Well, to a certain degree, I am; I wouldn't be British otherwise, young chap. But it's more than that here. The climate is absurdly integral to life down Honkers way. It affects pretty much everything and so when the temperature drops to 7°C, as it did today (and has been hovering around 10 all week) it's cause for much alarm, as the majority of the year it's 27°C (not forgetting the supremely comfortable humidity of 80%+; this week it's down at around 45%).
Now, I can hear you all "pfft-ing" from here - shaking your heads thinking I've been over here for far too long if I'm moaning about a trifling 7 degrees being cold. What you folks might not know or have not remembered, is that these buildings have NO HEATING WHATSOEVER. That's right (in case you didn't get it from the capitals - I am one of those people that means to do it ;) ), no radiators, none of those little pre-central heating vents in the floor, no lovely open fireplaces, not even a column of stone that heats up (a la apartments in Krakow). Plus they are generally fitted with my least favourite kind of windows. That's the 'pretty crappily installed so they don't fit properly' kind. It's howling an absolute gale in 'ere, I tell thee.
So essentially, I have spent every day this week when I've not been out, making a kind of nest for me and the kittens in our bedroom and only venturing out when one of us absolutely needs something. I've put on all the warm clothes I have - including two pairs of socks, plus a hat and scarf; cranked up the only pathetic little fan heater we have which isn't actually powerful enough to take on the draft from the windows, a gnat's fart would probably be more effective; and more often than not, I'm to be found under the covers of the bed. As I am now.
So spare a thought for me, Pies and the kitties (about whom I will blog soon, I promise) when you're stoking the old fire or whacking the thermostat up to 30 - clearly the building developers didn't spare a single one when planning these high-rises!
The symbol above is the Cold Weather warning that they display on the Hong Kong Observatory's website to let people know it might get a bit parky. Its official (and hugely resourceful) instructions are:
Phew - good job they wrote those, I was just about to go out in a bikini and stand about for hours. However, I do love how you're only advised to check on the elderly 'occasionally'...
