Editorial: Always a shock as temp drops

Photo / David Kerr

Four seasons in one day. Crowded House nailed the experience of Australasia's weather scene with its 1992 hit.

Today, I experienced a warm tropical paradise. A dark storm cloud warned of rain, which quickly gave way to a cold westerly wind. A blast of icy air left me with a frosty feeling.

Suddenly the sun came out again creating sticky humidity.

All that was just when I circuited the newsroom at lunchtime.

One reporter was wrapped in a blanket. The photographer was in shorts and a tee. Everyone has their own microclimate.

When it comes to the weather, we love talking about it. We love moaning about it. Even fighting about it.

A local lawyer told me that lawyers make the money not out of the big stuff like OJ Simpson or the Panama Papers but disputes over fences and trees. Add office temperature gauges to that.

One turns it up, and one turns it down, to the soundtrack of Katy Perry, "You're hot then you're cold. You're yes then you're no. You're up then you're down."

That's just inside. It's been a week to Jim Hickey frothing ... warning us to wrap up warm and throw another log on the fire.

A cold snap was coming. Snow in the south island. The coldest day of the year in some parts of the country.

Why the surprise?

It is winter. It happens every year. But each year, come a bit of cold and everyone is acting like the ice age cometh.

Being from Liverpool, we froze in short dresses on Friday nights in near-freezing temperatures all in the name of fashion and face. Only wussies feel the cold. Coats. They just were not cool. We're hard up north.

Don't moan about the cold. Put that log on the fire, another layer on. Eat more potatoes.

Savour those four seasons.