Frozen fountain

I recently came to a rather startling conclusion. I wasn't built for the cold. Its taken me over 40 years to realise the fact but realise it I have.
We all assume that we acclimatise to where we were born and live. Rubbish! don't you believe it. Having lived in hot countries for the last 5 years and now having endured 8 months back in England I now know that I hate the cold with a living passion the like of which I have never known before.

One of the kick backs of living in a cold climate is the fact that I have lived in London for most of my life and I hardly know my neighbours? Sure I know their names (ish) I will pass them every now and again on the street and nod, but I don't really know them. If you know what I mean. Which is sad.
I have lived in Thailand for 5 years and not only do I know my neighbours but I know nearly everyone around me for a 500km radius. This is because when it is hot you tend to live outside, when it's cold the truth is you don't.

So my advice to you all is - live outside and have a community based happy life. Which pretty much means if you live in a cold climate and aren't a hobo. Move...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always had the opposite problem, cannot deal with the heat. It comes from growing up in the North of England, where a hot summer is 20°C.

Although it's true that I don't know my neighbours I think that's more to do with social trends than what the climate is like, people in Russia for example are quite socially minded!

Dave said...

Hi Nathan, I just find it easier to exist in heat than the cold although I take your point. Being cold is also expensive in the UK at the moment as gas and oil prices have reached titanic proportions!!
Being in a warm climate you only need a thin sheet over you.
There is a downside though and thats the creepy crawlies...!

Anonymous said...

Dave, I got into your blog when you were in Thailand.
We are an English family traveling for a year.
We have spent the last two months in asia (Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore) the heat is why we are here.
Our utilities bills in the UK were a disgrace, and I hate the dark cold winter time.
We hope to finally end up in Malaysia and only wish to return to the UK to pickup our things from storage.
When do you hope to return to the land of smiles?

Dave said...

Hi Alan, Thanks for making contact. As you can see from my blog I am currently stuck back in the UK. You are right about the utility bills, they are an utter discrace.
Traveling as a family must be an amazing thing. I assume your children are past school age? What an adventure for them. I hope they realise how lucky they are. Chance of a lifetime and memories for ever.
I hope to return to Thailand in the summer for a few months and return for good not long after, but the current credit crisis will unfortunatly dictate that.

ACe said...

Well, Dave Actually my youngest is only 13 but f -it, it's better than the education he was getting in the UK, His Brother 19 has spent three months in Pattaya learning to scuba dive, and his sister 17 was with us and will meet up with us again in three weeks but has left for a few weeks to travel with a friend from Malaysia to Thailand and maybe onto Laos or Vietnam.
Our house back in the UK stands empty unable to let it and unable to sell it!
You can follow us at http://chasingthefun.blogspot.com
I hope you get back to traveling soon, we hope to never return to England it's broken!

Dave said...

Thanks ACe, Shame your house stands empty even for rental purposes it could be a source of income. The housing market in the UK is rock bottom at the moment as is the economy. You are much better where you are in the heat with nice people.
I will check out your blog to see how you get on.
Cheers, Dave...

ACe said...

Well you know how it is, we are trying to let it just no luck so far.
We were in Hua Hin last year and we loved it, that's how I found you blog.
We actually looked at buying a property there, but being unable to sell our place meant we could not proceed.
We are probably going to settle in Malaysia just because I think Visa's are a lot easier to come by.
That said walking along the beach at Hua Hin to the temple at the far end on the hill as the sun was rising and the monks were walking along the beach will remain one of my best experiences ever.

Dave said...

The visas are a bit of a nightmare in Thailand. The sea in Hua Hin is not the best due to the jellyfish. LOL...

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