Hot or cold – which is best?

This is how hot it was on the beach in Langkawi. I managed to grab an hour or so on a lounger under the palm trees and was treated to an iced damp towel to help me cool down. Delicious! This is also how hot it is in Singapore and Malaysia all the time. So close to the Equator, the weather is roughly the same all year round, except that sometimes it rains a bit more. It doesn’t cool down much at night. And it’s always very humid.

As a child of 12 in the mid 70s, I was hardly even taking responsibility for choosing my own clothes, let alone making any decisions about how to keep warm and dry. I remember being cold as a child and I remember complaining about it, but not thinking about it that much. It wasn’t my job to solve the problem, just to draw attention to it!

So when we moved to a tropical climate, I did notice that all I ever needed to wear was a skirt and T shirt, or similar, and of course I noticed it was warm and humid. I also seem to have missed out on some very important lessons about dealing with the famous British climate. For three whole years I was never cold. Not once. My theory is that my body learned to cope with the heat and humidity – and therefore I am , to this day, a prolific sweater – but it didn’t learn how to keep itself warm. Also I, Harriet, didn’t learn how many clothes to put on or to adopt that peculiar British stoicism that seems to get us through the long dark Winter.

When I returned to the UK I was horrified as the weather became colder and colder and the days shorter and shorter. I had completely forgotten quite how cold and dark the Winters can be. It took me years (literally about ten years) to learn to dress warmly because I hated the feeling of heavy, tight clothing on my body. And I still feel the cold very badly and can easily become resentful about having to live in a climate that can actually kill people with cold.

A few years ago I learned to become a little more grateful about the British weather. I reasoned that I was lucky to live in a country that provides opportunities for women that, although not yet totally equal, are more equal than most, and that has a reasonable human rights record, again compared with many other countries. And I realised that most countries that offer these advantages have temperate climates. This has helped a bit but I still have to work on my resentful feelings about cold weather and my anxious anticipation of the impending Winter.

So. Over the past week or so many people have been complaining about the heatwave we are experiencing in the UK. Now, I know that I am lucky to live in a very old house that is cool in the Summer. It is also very cold in the Winter though! I am also lucky enough to work largely from home so I don’t have a sticky commute or stuffy office to contend with. And, as I’ve explained, I am blessed with a body that knows how to keep me cool and ingrained hot weather behaviour that means I slow down and stay in the shade. I’ve never been interested in sitting in the hot sun and don’t have the patience for sunbathing; also I’ve seen too many nasty cases of sunburn and heat exhaustion to take risks!

But. I am savouring every moment of not-being-cold. I don’t need to be hot and I’ve never wanted a hot weather holiday. I just want to not-be-cold. I probably have another five or six weeks of not-being-cold and then it is a question of waiting to see how soon the temperature dips and how severe the Winter becomes.

If you’re finding the high temperatures a bit much I can give you tips: as you know, wear loose cotton clothing and keep hydrated. Move slowly. Stay indoors during the hotter hours and plan outings etc for early morning or evenings if at all possible. Stay in the shade. Eat curry. I don’t know why it helps but I always crave spicy food even more when it is warm and it does help to keep you cool. Now if someone can teach me how to cope just as well with the cold I’ll be sorted!