I Know I Have Toes in my Boots - I Saw Them This Morning

Christmas 2007 - My kids think they are much too old for this sort of thing, but I made them do it anyway! Mom's still got the power....

What made me think of Christmas is today's weather and the state of my feet. As you can see from the picture above, a white Christmas is certainly not what we experience in this country. There the kids are in their summer gear, it's about 21h00 and the temperature has probably dropped from around 35 degrees (95 F) to around 18 degrees (64 F). Watching the Olympics on TV, with people sweating in the heat makes me wonder whether or not we are on the same planet, because of course it's now winter here. I started work this morning in a office that with two heaters on was a balmy 8 degrees (46.4 F), and if I'm lucky it will warm up to about 14 degrees (57.2 F) by midday (did I mention the two heaters we have on....).


For those who live in other, more developed countries, these temperatures may not seem like anything to complain about. But you all probably have airconditioning and central heating in your homes and offices. In this country, there is no such thing as central heating (unless it's a national secret that I'm not privy to), & airconditioners are only found in the more affluent homes (and then perhaps only in one or two rooms - not in the whole house).

Spare a thought for those of us who sit in our homes & offices wearing so many layers that we look like the Michelin man!

I suppose I shouldn't complain. At least it doesn't rain all winter like it does in some parts of the world - even in some parts of South Africa. We have beautiful winter days & even though it's cold the sun still shines most days. We don't have to shovel snow, which I imagine can get rather tedious even though it looks really pretty, and of course summer is just around the corner and soon I'll be seeing how high the thermometer will go instead of how low - But in the meantime, has anyone seen my toes?