Today is the first day of Winter in the Southern hemisphere. [EDIT: See Verity's comment below correcting this! It's was the Winter Solstice but various countries down here, including South Africa, say winter begins on the first of June.] The backwards leap in the progression of seasons has been one of the strangest things about moving here, even though we enjoyed an extremely (almost ridiculously) mild winter in Pittsburgh and now live in a place that generally enjoys mild winters.
It’s not so much the actual weather as it is the alienation of having June, July, and August be winter months. I’m programmed to yearn for barbecue and flowy dresses and sandals and bikinis at this time of year, but I get stews and jackets and boots and scarves instead. I don’t want those now. I just had those.
My twitter feed is full of complaints about how hot it is, interspersed with appreciation of summery treats like days spent outside or frozen fruity boozy drinks. But it’s not just jealousy, it’s that being in the opposite season from most of the people in my life (and the opposite season my brain and body THINK I should be in) exacerbates my feelings of loneliness and displacement.
All that being said, if I have to go through winter again this year, it might as well be a winter like this one:
[From Weather Underground]
June 20, 2012 at 12:55 pm
So jealous
June 20, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Not that it makes any difference to the temperature, but the first day of winter was 20 days ago (at least it was here in Australia). Today’s winter solstice, though, which is fun, cos the days will start getting longer again now, and I need the vitamin D
June 21, 2012 at 5:31 am
Wow, I should have fact checked! It does indeed begin 1 June here in South Africa too. In the states the seasons start and end on the solstices and equinoxes, which doesn’t really correspond with how we feel the seasons [hence Memorial Day (late May) being the unofficial start of Summer, and Labor Day (early September) being the unofficial end.] Thanks for the knowledge!!
June 21, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Just think, one year in your future it may be Summer All Year.
September 1, 2013 at 1:33 pm
I would HATE to live in the southern hemisphere because there would be absolutely NOTHING to look forward to in the winter and I would also stop celebrating Christmas if I lived south of the equator. The northern hemisphere is far better than the southern hemisphere because of the presence of Christmas in our winter.