.
This
is our second winter cold snap. I wrote
about the first one two weeks ago (26 January), and then we had almost a week of
normal hot weather with temps up in the mid-90s and humid – until now. The last two nights have again been down to
61*F, and I’ve had all the fans off for a couple of days – even in the daytime. Downright chilly. Again, bathing is a rude awakening.
I
wrote the following yesterday while sitting outside in the shade in our small
courtyard in the afternoon:
I had to go back inside to get a shirt, since it is down to 78*F (at 2 p.m.) and my normal minimal attire of only swim trunks isn't enough. I initially buttoned up the short sleeve shirt, but that was too hot and I had to unbutton it. This is much like fine-tuning layers of clothing in temperate or very cold climates, except much simpler.
Such extraordinarily low humidity and low dewpoint in the daytime make the air shockingly comfortable. I still put ice in my drinks -- force of habit from 350 days of oppressive heat and humidity for the rest of the year -- today's mix in my big insulated mug being iced espresso, raspberry vodka, and Coke Zero.
A bit of wind picked up mid-afternoon, and I had to re-button my shirt. I still light a mosquito coil and place it on a plate between my feet on my lawn chair, since flies and mosquitoes still bother me in "winter", and mosquitoes carrying the dread Dengue Fever bite during the daytime.
It
is Chinese New Year, and many of the vendors on the sidewalks are absent,
probably visiting family.
-Zenwind.
.
