Ordinary Gweilo

I have to admit that it has been cold these last few days, and I have been wearing a jacket or a coat when I go out. No scarves or hats or any other nonsense, just a jacket.

I know that Hong Kong people aren’t really used to cold weather, but I couldn’t quite believe how this has been affecting people who were brought up in colder countries. Phil tells us that:

It takes me up to ten minutes to get out of bed because I need that long to build up the courage to expose myself.

Someone has added a comment to Phil’s piece, noting something that Big White Guy (who comes from Canada, where it really does get cold) wrote some time back, complaining about how unpleasant it is having a shower or going to the toilet when it’s cold in Hong Kong. Poor thing.

It’s a fair point that Hong Kong apartments are designed to keep us cool during the hot summers, not to keep us warm for the few days of winter each year, but I don’t find it that much of a problem. In the UK you normally have the reverse problem, in that when it is very hot (as it was this summer), it is very difficult to keep most homes bearably cool, but during the winter you have central heating so you are comfortable at home. In an ideal world, I suppose homes would be designed for both extremes of temperature, but I don’t think there’s much demand for central heating in Hong Kong!

Anyway, today it was warmer, and the maximum temperature for Tuesday is 20 Celsius. That is not cold!