Friday, January 4, 2013

personally, i blame the guvmint





Back in the early 60s, whenever I stayed at my grandmother’s place she would let me watch Zig and Zag on the TV.

The were only two episodes I recall in any detail. One was about how the two clowns helped repair the King? St Bridge after it developed a crack in it. Naturally it was hard work and they had a break half way through and each ate a Peter’s Ice Cream.





In another episode everyone was complaining about the weather, so Zig and Zag decided they could do a better job than the weather bureau. Some people rang up because they wanted to go skiing, and they set the meter to snow. The next call was from someone who wanted to go to the beach for a swim. I guess the moral to this story was that we can’t please everybody. [There have been some wholesome influences in my life.]

My own personal variation on the theme is that I refuse to be satisfied at all – and that’s not just about the weather.

The chill, not the temperature, makes a Melbourne winter a bit hard to take. On the other hand, it’s not much fun in summer having sweat pouring from every pore. Evaporative cooling has its limitations.




As a kid the heat never seemed to bother me because we were always in water. Well, the sunburn bothered me a bit, but not half so much as it will in ten or 15 years’ time when I’m having cancers burnt or cut off my skin all the time.
Once I hit my thirties I stopped going outside at all.

Keeping cool inside during a heatwave was a simple matter of using the bathtub as a plunge pool every 20 minutes or so. The other trick was to hang wet sheets over the screen door, which acted as a type of evaporative cooling system.



Okay, so it’s a bit much for me to wish I could have the temperature steady at 19 C +/- 2 all year round. But seriously, if we can’t please everybody, wouldn’t this be a good compromise?
Everywhere round the world, of course. It’s not just about me.




19 comments:

  1. Yes it is, and why do we complain about one of the few things left we have NO control over? sigh...

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  2. There'll be noooooooooooooooo trouble. I remember the weather one. Of course one of the pairs' life did end in trouble. I'm with you on the 19 degrees. Maybe ok for kids, but I can think of nothing worse than going to the beach on a day like today, well yesterday now. My plans for a retirement flat in Hobart for the summer have been spoilt now. 42 indeed.

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    1. Beaches are for winter, or for looking through windows at from an airconditioned building.
      Hobart would have been nice. Never mind - with the hours you work you have no right to even think about words like retirement.

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    2. Glad I am not the only one who thinks all those who FLOCK to Elwood etc when it's stinking hot are mad/stupid; but Andrew the drive from HOB down to beautiful Bruny Island does not take long. It has the best beach in Australia you can stand there and gaze toward cool Antarctica over the horizon. I love Tasmania.

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  3. That fried egg is so in the wrong spot FC ...or maybe it should be scrambled and spread out a bit more...mmmm now I'm a wee bit peckish haha!

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    1. What if we fill in the spare bits with some bacon? That would make things a bit humid, don'tcha think?

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  4. I'm totally with you on the constant 19 C temp all year round.

    And yeah...I'm like you in disliking both the cold and the heat.

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    1. Hi Dina,
      If I could spend some time in a nice house with a pool in the backyard an extra 5 degrees would be tolerable.
      Though if it was a heated indoor pool during the colder months that would be "cool" too.

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  5. Zig and Zag are definitely a blast from the past i remember 'em well. My ideal temparture is between 20/25C like its gunna be today that's if their dart throwing is accurate.

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  6. I think zones would work. A bl**dy cold zone, a 0-10 zone a 15-20 (more compromise!) zone; a 21-25 zone; a 25-30 zone and a bl**dy HOT zone. Then everyone can pick where they prefer to live; and visit other zones if they want variety!!

    Whaddaya reckon?!

    PS Love the dart throwing too!!

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like a very fair system - so long as everyone else has to move and I get to have my preferred zone right here. It's actually an excellent idea. No rocks in your head, Red!

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    2. If there were rocks in Red's head, they would be red too.

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    3. Then one of Red's Amazing Adventure pictures might be a brain scan?

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    4. How do you know that hasn't already happened?!?!?!

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    5. If you tell me which one it is I can check to see if you've still got all your marbles...?

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    6. The Devil's Marbles in NT

      *runs away*

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    7. Ann, I can hear your footsteps fading as you run down the hall...

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