Several years ago, some very dear friends from Texas, came to stay with us in the middle of July. It was one of those winters when we froze to the bone. I must have given dear Beth every blanket in the house, plus every pillow, but that Bulawayo chill got right down deep into her Texas bones.
Now after three years in Sweden, and several winters in Texas, one would think one would be inured to the cold, but Bulawayo has a coldness all of its own!! We have seriously invigorating winters and deliciously hot summers. But one thing we don't have, unlike the northern hemisphere, is central heating.
Our houses are glass and brick, lots of glass to let in the glorious sunlight, and the art of double glazing has never reached our hemisphere!!
Up North they are toasty inside and icy outside, but we are quite the reverse. Climbing out of a nice warm bed into the temperature of a snow ski resort is no fun at all. But by midday off come the woolies until 4 pm when the sun starts going down, then those same woolies are hurriedly replaced!!
For bedtime in Sweden one dresses as for a summer night, no fleecy jammeys, no exotic 'onesies' like they show in the movies ! Oh no, with central heating and super duper Swedish duvets, one would die of heat stroke. Sometimes we foreigners find the central heating just too overpowering for words, and start opening windows for a breath of fresh air!!
But bedtime in Bulawayo requires a lot more care and fore thought. A wooly cap with a pom pom on the end, just like Santa's, even sounds inviting sometimes!!
So I really need to apologise to my poor friend Beth for putting her through that truly 'Bulawayo in July' Spartan test