Last weekend I experienced one of the most heavy thunderstorms I have ever seen/heard in my life. The rain was so heavy and the thunder was earsplitting. Summer here is strange compared to what I am used to. The rain I have experienced is like nothing I have experienced before. These are those once in every two years storms that would hit Melbourne. Here that rainfall seems to happen every week. Gothamist posted some photos of the storm here. For the purpose of my pals in Oz, I am going to talk in celsius terms here when I’m going to discuss the issues that I have found I have with weather here.
I don’t think summer here so far has got above 30 degrees. That isn’t even considered a summer temperature in Melbourne. Being used to 40+ degrees for days on end and a cool change breeze that sweeps through the city, seeing the temperatures here in the forecast gives anyone from the Southern part of the globe a false sense of seasonal confidence.
To put it simply, I can quite safely say I have never sweated SO MUCH in my WHOLE LIFE as what I have sweated over the past month or so. June was not bad – cool enough for skirts and top but not too many days of humidity. Well the past couple of weeks have knocked me for six. To be graphic, the other day, I picked up my mail in the morning before work and was waiting at 18th Street for the train. Sweat was running down my legs. I have never felt so disgusting or in so need of a shower (30 minutes after I had just had a cold one and did not even dry my hair.) I can feel sweat dripping down my back, beading on my forehead and ruining my hair.
This has resulted in some survival tactics –
1. A $2 fan from Chinatown – this has been a godsend for when I get to the office and feel like a sweaty mess. 10 minutes of fanning that and I feel half normal.
2. A Nalgene full of cold water as soon as I get to work helps cool me down.
3. I’ve had to change my makeup. The Laura Mercier Oil-Free foundation that I have used for the past five years just couldn’t stand up in this weather. I have switched to Bare Minerals and somehow even though I am mopping my face constantly while waiting for the train, my make up stays on. The stuff is good.
4. Not going outside at lunchtime.
5. Putting the AC on timer to come on an hour before we get home.
6. I have even had to change deodorants. Mitchum it is! It is not in a pretty bottle but it is serious stuff.
7. I carry Wet Ones everywhere
8. My headband = my best friend
The worst part of the day is the time spent waiting for the train. The 1 line has been a bit temperamental lately which means some mornings I have had to wait for 6-8 minutes instead of 3. When you are standing in a stifling station where all the air has been zapped out and the temperature would be close to 50 degrees – every minute counts!
The hardest thing about getting used to the humidity is I always feel like a soaking mess and everyone else looks so darn PERFECT!! Does no-one get a flushed face here or look disheveled just walking one block?! Because I feel like I am the only person on earth here who feels this way while everyone else walks around in their little Banana Republic skirts and tops, looking cool, calm and collected with not a frizzy hair in sight!
Summer be gone!!!!!!!!!!