It’s a very strange situation living in a land of perpetual sun. Though it has innumerable benefits there is something elusive which islost.Thus, as the majority of the northern hemisphere goes into hibernation and the pangs of weather related depression, I sit outside a café by the beach in flip-flops and a t-shirt. Now, I am by no means advocating a winter in my native Ireland over one in Tenerife, or for that matter Moscow where I spend last winter. Nevertheless there is anirksome feeling in my head that something has been lost.
I was lying on the beach reading a book a few weeks ago – on the 31st of October to be exact – and I saw the various Halloween paraphernalia blowing in the wind. I couldn’t help but feel nostalgia for the crisp cold, the eerie darkness and the crunch of amber and brown. I have a place in my heart for Halloween and all the darkness and macabre that it entails. I especially revel in the fact that I can put down the mask of the pen for a day and pick up a physical mask, with the rest of the world in toe. Therefore, it should be irrelevant what the climate is like. I should be capable of enjoying the festival without the weather being a factor.
In practice it was not that simple. I could never really get into the ‘Halloween spirit’ (as it were) due to the fact that the weather was too summery. I’m now having the same issue in the build up to Christmas. Tinsel & pine have no place among cacti and sand.
This is by no means a bitch about living on a tropical Island, merely an observation on how important weather is to the events we celebrate. It’s not Halloween without the damp and deciduous leaves, or Christmas without the hot chocolate and snow.
Is the loss of these a bearable loss to have sun in November?
I haven’t decided that yet.
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Scribblings and Broken Glass 
‘It’s not Halloween without the damp and deciduous leaves, or Christmas without the hot chocolate and snow.’
How true! I once celebrated Christmas Day near the Equator in very hot temperatures. It was just not the same!
Just celebrated Christmas here in Tanzania, not the first time in a hot climate since I have spent Christmas in Australia – turkey sandwiches for a picnic on the beach. However, the funniest thing is that it is possible to get Christmas cards here, some of which have snow scenes and robins! Receiving a card like that here is surreal since I doubt anyone here has seen snow or robins. For the last week I have been spending my time cutting back the grass in my garden (by hand – no lawn mowers here, but there is a garden fork which could offer a robin a perching post). The possibility of snakes settling in my garden is certainly a lot higher than that of snow and robins 😉