19 Comments
Jun 1, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

Guys in the office wearing their puffer jackets. Indoors. Let me stress this: wearing puffer jackets inside the actual heated office.

My problem is that this is Canberra on 1 June. These dickheads have no more layers they can add as we properly get into winter.

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Jun 2, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

Born and raised in Wisconsin where it gets proper cold. Been living in Melbourne for the past 9 years and holy shit I've never heard people complain about the cold more!

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Jun 1, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

I've lived in Brisbane, Belgium, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and now Sydney for longer than the rest put together, and can still safely say that the coldest I've ever been (at home) was in Brisbane. That winter studying for final year exams in a Queenslander in Taringa was brutal. House was in a deep, treed valey that got two hours of sun in the middle of the day. The wind used to whistle up through the floorboards. I remember hunching over my books wearing every jumper and every pair of socks that I owned, with the fan heater on max, and still teeth chattering. Sitting still and studying was clearly a bad move, in retrospect, but mostly it comes down to the houses: places that know that they're going to get cold build warm, insulated houses, and maybe have some form of heating. That doesn't (didn't) describe Brisbane, which is fair, but you get outlier months and years, and suffer.

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Jun 1, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

Soft. I’m still in a T-shirt and shorts, and bare feet or thongs, in Shellharbour, every day. Maybe in July I’ll put my big boy pants on for a few weeks…maybe.

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Jun 1, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

Well, we had an hour of snow this morning down here in sub-alpine Vic. It was bracing. QLD-ers would not cope too well. "Me, I'm loving it." he says as he drops another log on the fire.

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COLD...FKN A- HERE in sunnay not so warm fkn Ballarat its ball tearibly fkn frozen. WORSE..I spend three days on the piss in Darwin last week at 33 C...YUM..Not si here.

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I refuse to offer grist for your mill, Melbourne is fine, delightful even.

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I understand that for most Qlders, 25 degrees is cardigan time.

But I am looking somewhat askance at Sydneysiders complaining about the cold. But (TW: insufferable Canberra complaining) it was 6 degrees max here in Canberra a few days ago. In Autumn, as Dave notes.

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I've got a new house. Its the warmest house I have ever had, built in 1915 and modified in 2013. I've just removed the fireplaces and put in a big heat pump, somedays its so mild and warm inside. I have to go outside to remember its winter. At night I'm wearing tee shirts. Every other house in Tasmania I have had has sucked for warmth, from the other vintage house to the Mcmansion to the inner city townhouse (which was like ice underfoot, until I insulated the floors) I'm just waiting for the snow to fall so I can go for a looksee at some point.

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