I left Sydney on Friday afternoon after making a quick swing by the beach for one last swim before heading north. The sun was out, it was about 86 degrees (30C), and the water temperature was a lovely 75 (24C). I arrived in San Francisco, thanks to the vagaries of the International Date Line, on Friday morning, and walked out into an icy blast of wind, rain, sleet and hail. The temperature was, I believe about 42 (6C), and it got worse; by later that day, snow was falling intermittently in various parts of the Bay Area.
I thought I had planned things out so that I'd arrive in time for a lovely California spring, mild enough to cushion my re-entry next week into London, where March can generally be counted on to be miserable (and April, and very possibly May as well). I guess I was wrong; this foul weather is meant to keep up for the entire week I'm here.
Add to that the fact that most California houses, built on the premise that it never gets cold here (ha!), have very little in the way of insulation or heating, and you can picture me huddled over a tiny electric heater trying my valiant best to type while wearing gloves.
And as if on cue, midway through that last paragraph, a loud rattling sound from outside alerted me to the fact that it was hailing rather heavily, and a blanket of ice balls is piling up in the street. Brilliant! Sydney readers, please don't feel compelled to email and remind me that the sun is shining and that it's another almost perfect day in paradise down there. I'm more than well enough aware of that already.
I thought I had planned things out so that I'd arrive in time for a lovely California spring, mild enough to cushion my re-entry next week into London, where March can generally be counted on to be miserable (and April, and very possibly May as well). I guess I was wrong; this foul weather is meant to keep up for the entire week I'm here.
Add to that the fact that most California houses, built on the premise that it never gets cold here (ha!), have very little in the way of insulation or heating, and you can picture me huddled over a tiny electric heater trying my valiant best to type while wearing gloves.
And as if on cue, midway through that last paragraph, a loud rattling sound from outside alerted me to the fact that it was hailing rather heavily, and a blanket of ice balls is piling up in the street. Brilliant! Sydney readers, please don't feel compelled to email and remind me that the sun is shining and that it's another almost perfect day in paradise down there. I'm more than well enough aware of that already.
4 comments:
My family just came to visit me from Pennsylvania in the hopes the weather would be spring like out here. It snowed half the time they were here AND it was actually warmer in PA most of the time. This year's west coast winter is a real let down. It's March! It should be 60 degrees by now!
Monday, high of 25, low of 7 Tuesday high of 28 low of 8
Wednesday high of 32 low of 10...we're getting there mate. I'm about set to shovel a path to my motorbike!!
We had record lows here a couple nights ago... Something like 36 degrees in the pre-dawn hours. I knew it was cold, but I figured I was being a whiney OC baby about it. Turns out, not so much. It was, indeed, VERY cold.
I'm really pleased you've been enjoying the beach. I'm pretty sure you used to swear against stepping foot anywhere near the ocean. I can just picture you swimming with all your clothes on. You ought to come down south some time for some beach blanket bingo!
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