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Only city slickers whinge about the heat

Petra Starke

by Petra Starke

10 Jan 05:35am

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Filed under: Fires, Heatwave, Media, Summer, Tv

22 comments

You might not be aware of this, but the country has been going through a bit of a heatwave lately. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know - everyone’s been pretty quiet about it. I didn’t even realise myself until I opened a window the other day and felt a burst of unusually warm air. “Why has nobody mentioned this?’’ I thought.

Imagine if we hadn't got the air-con fitted?

Obviously, I’m joking. For the past week you haven’t been able to turn on a TV or radio without hearing about how it’s hot, it’s really hot, it’s probably going to get hotter and then it’s going to keep being hot for a while. And also that it’s hot.

It’s a talking point, I agree. Nothing stimulates conversation between strangers like a string of days over 35, particularly when those strangers are stuck on an overheating bus. A heatwave brings us all together (which is a bit unfortunate because everyone is sweaty and sticky and we should probably be getting as far apart as possible, and then having cold showers), and a ``mega heatwave’‘, like the one the nation is currently experiencing, is even more unifying.

It’s been so severe the Bureau of Meteorology had to add a new colour to its weather maps to show temperatures above 52C.

It has sparked bushfires in several states, broken historic temperature records and sat across the entire country for weeks. It’s as if Satan himself had decided to use Australia as his armchair.

If there’s ever been a heatwave worth complaining about, it’s this one.

And yet, I’ve always found it funny the way we Australians go on about the heat every summer as if it’s something unusual.

We get particularly excited when it’s hot for more than one day in a row, as if that’s not exactly how the season is supposed to work. In fact I’d say that’s actually the definition of summer: hot for more than one day in a row, for about 90 days.

Basically we live in a desert, and we get annoyed when it’s hot. This is rather like getting angry at the ocean for making your bathers wet.

Well, I say “we”. Really I’m talking about city dwellers like me, who whinge about the heat even though their only exposure to it is walking from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned office and back again.

You don’t hear the good folks of Oodnadatta, who have sweated through 10 days of over-40 degree temperatures, complaining when their ice cream melts. They’re built of sterner stuff out there.

While we in the city complain about having to spend 20 minutes on a stuffy bus, some kids in the country are travelling for kilometres on un-air conditioned buses only to sit in un-air conditioned hotboxes pretending to be classrooms.

People in Coober Pedy probably throw things at the TV when they see news reporters doing live crosses from Glenelg beach, talking in serious tones about the “soaring temperatures” while families happily splash about in the background.

Speaking of which, does anyone get more excited about heatwaves than TV news reporters? They leap at the chance to work a weather angle in to every story, which they present while standing in front of swimming pools, even if they’re talking about interest rates.

I even saw someone on Channel 10’s The Project last week promoting magic show “The Illusionists” as a “great way to beat the heat’‘.

Who do they think they’re talking to, the Trumps? I might be wrong, but I don’t think anyone paying more than $70 for a ticket to The Illusionists is going because of the air conditioning.

There are obviously more economical ways of keeping cool. Fortunately, people on TV love to tell us about those too, every summer, as if we’re all complete thickos.

Drink lots of water! Turn on your air conditioner! Wear light clothing! Avoid strenuous exercise outside! Seek shade!

They actually find professional spokespeople to tell us this, every year. I don’t know why. Are there peopleout there wearing jumpers and overcoats doing star jumps in full sun wondering why they’re hot who need to be told this information? Should we remind them to keep breathing in and out as well, and to eat food occasionally?

Wherever they are, I bet it’s not Oodnadatta.

Comments on this post close at 8pm AEST

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22 comments

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    • acotrel says:

      06:13am | 10/01/13

      Most city dwellers live close to the sea, - come 100km over the coastal range and you will find out what heat really is like with no breeze.  I live in Benalla, and my energy bill is always high.  I pay for heating in winter, and most years when October arrives the blast furnace is turned on, and I have the airconditioning bill to contend with for the next six months.  Regardless, I would never move back to live in a large city.  Even if the temperatures are mild, the traffic makes existing there horrendous.  Two hours commuting an a 40 degree day which involves sitting in a red hot car is a shit of an idea, especially if the airconditioner blows up and costs $1200 to fix. . And the depressing radio certainly does not help anybody to feel better .

      Reply

    • Jeff says:

      07:31am | 10/01/13

      You are in a bind arent you ? Luckily you wont run out of things to whine about ....

    • Gregg says:

      08:34am | 10/01/13

      I just thought it was the cityslickers that were supposed to whinge!
      Run a cold bath and throw some ice cubes in every half hour and relax without the radio or just tune in to relaxing music.

      Before you know it you’ll be counting all the extra wrinkles.

    • Moo says:

      06:38am | 10/01/13

      Aahhh…taking my jumper of now. Thank you.

      Reply

    • Wayne Kerr says:

      07:28am | 10/01/13

      Yep, we had a really hot day in the middle of Summer.  Who’d of thunk it????

      Reply

    • Joan Bennett says:

      07:29am | 10/01/13

      “And yet, I’ve always found it funny the way we Australians go on about the heat every summer as if it’s something unusual.”  Totally agree, Petra!  In fact, this summer (in Adelaide) has been more like the summers I remember from my childhood in the 1970s.  January would have enough 40 degree days to mean plenty of beach time during the school holidays, so I looked at the forecast with glee as a wee girl.  The last few summers have been quite mild, in comparison, which goes to show that climate is cyclical and doesn’t have much to do with us mere mortals.  Nature has been doing climate cycles for billions of years and doesn’t really care about our nonsense…

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      03:03pm | 10/01/13

      Joan,
      The first year I lived in Benalla we had about forty weeks without rain.  For ten yearsd the heat has been extreme.  It has only been the last two years that we have had a summer which is bearable.  This one is tame compared with what went before it.  We’ve had a few 40 degree days, but they didn’t commence on the 1st of October and finish at the end of May.  The rain has gone away again, so the cockies won’t be rich for much longer, and the rest of us who rely on their patronage, will be a bit worried again. This year I’ve only had the airconditioning running about ten times since the beginning of October.  Previously it was every day.  And that stuff appears to be on the way again. The next El Nino will probably be a doosie. It never thriills me when the fire truck and crew rocket out of town with the siren going.  It has only happened two times so far this year.

    • Eddie of Erskineville says:

      03:39pm | 10/01/13

      People live in Benalla because they cannot afford a city address

    • Matt says:

      07:41am | 10/01/13

      Thanks for the laugh!

      Reply

    • PsychoHyena says:

      07:46am | 10/01/13

      I would suggest there are some people who are drinking alcohol, coffee, etc more than they should in hot weather and less water than they should. Also you can be wearing t-shirt and shorts and still be wearing heavy clothing, I have a tight-weave t-shirt that is great for winter but not so good for summer, additionally I have a loose-weave long-sleeve shirt that works for summer but not winter.

      Regarding the perception of heat, we all think you mainlanders are soft when you come down to Tas and on a summer night wear jumpers, etc while everyone else is wandering around in tees and shorts.

      Reply

    • ramases says:

      08:17am | 10/01/13

      Its a typical Summer up here, not to hot during the day and quite pleasant at night and shock horror no Air-conditioning. Ceiling fans occasionally but in the main just nice. Of course we have the beach about 45 mins away and we have a couple of dams on the property but hasn’t been hot enough yet to even contemplate using either. I suppose if you live and work in a concrete jungle where the heat is exacerbated by the surroundings then there might be some concern but I truly think its because we have become a bit soft because of the availability of air-conditioning in cars and buses and offices and homes that makes going outside into the real world a problem for most people. Well must go have 18 holes to play and the Golf Course awaits.

      Reply

    • Roxanne F says:

      08:22am | 10/01/13

      So, I can pack my doona away too?  Thank heavens for that!

      Reply

    • Phil says:

      08:27am | 10/01/13

      City heat is different to Country heat. Large concrete structures holding and radiating heat all day and night long where as its not as big an issue in the country.
      Ive spent plenty of time in 40 degree+ weather in rural Australia and it doesn’t compare to 40 degree+ days in a major built up city.
      Add to the mix simple things like getting crammed in to a train (big tin can) that has no AC with 100 other people per carriage for an hour or so.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      08:31am | 10/01/13

      Ah Petra, you do need to get out to enjoy some country air!
      ” While we in the city complain about having to spend 20 minutes on a stuffy bus, some kids in the country are travelling for kilometres on un-air conditioned buses only to sit in un-air conditioned hotboxes pretending to be classrooms. “
      Like right now there are no school buses running and you might even find country ones along with the schools will have some air conditioning, even if it is of the evaporative cooling kind for they do work exceedingly well in hotter drier climates.

      Interestingly, it will be as we get closer to February and into it that we will be making children suffer through our normally hottest times so maybe there ought to be a changing of school holidays, two weeks off at Xmas/NY, some pre years work up in January amd then a four/five week break for late January and February and so sorry about these unusual Januaries that occur.

      Meanwhile, there are some people who still manage to survive without any airconditioning other than a few ceiling and pedestal fans to assist natural breezes, high ceilings and external insulation in the form of solar panels helping no end as does just sitting around in the jocks out on the verandah, a nice icy cold non alcohol drink every hour or so also being good.

      But yep, hotter summers come along every so often and I pity the many city living people and their massive air conditioner bills and hope they will not have to contend with power shortages/failures as energy consumption skyrockets and it is found we should have started building some new base load power stations a decade or so ago.
      All those people in a city generated hotter micro climate and they’ll have something like a melt down without their air conditioners or at least some form of withdrawal symptons!

      I might just have to just get the jocks off!

      Reply

    • AFR says:

      09:06am | 10/01/13

      Yawn…. another city-bashing country-people-are-tougher piece. What rubbish. Country people are the bigger whiners out there (I know I grew up there).

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:28am | 10/01/13

      I Call Bullshit.

      Apart from the odd ‘Geez its a bit warm today’ I haven’t heard anyone moaning about the heat around the office kitchen. Its Summer, we all know it and yes its hot….much as it is every year around this time. The only pelicans screaming about HEATWAVES and RECORD TEMPERATURES is the bloody media as per bloody usual!

      So when are the going to start giving the heatwave a bloody name?? Heatwave Harry?

      Remember when we just used to have Summer?? That period of time of around 90 days each year when temperatures would sit in the 30’s and occasional spikes into the 40’s. Good beach, bbq and beer weather. And here in Brisbane we used to get some awesome afternoon thunderstorms that would roll in late on a stinkinghot day and cool the place down?? Yeah, we don’t get those anymore, instead we get SUPERSTORMS!!! ... We don’t have floods any more…we get ‘Once in 50/75/100 year floods’..that seem to happen 3 or 4 times a decade…

      What would we do without the media to exaggerate and grossly inflate every day occurances and turn them into devastating events of biblicval proportion to scare the shit out of the gulliable….

      So while we have wall to wall headlines, news reports, internet articles etc most of us really don’t give a shit….we crank up the aircon, get on with our lives, have a beer, cook dinner on the BBQ instead of inside and eat more ice cream and shit….until the ‘DEVASTING HEATWAVE HARRY of 2013’ turns into ‘BLIZZARD BARRY’ when temps get below 10…..

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      09:49am | 10/01/13

      You don’t get out into the country much do you? Country folk are always having a whinge about the weather, too hot, too cold, not enough rain, too much rain. That’s because farmers depend on getting the right weather at the right time in order to get the best return on their investment, their crops and livestock.
      Having grown up as the only city dwellers in a family of sheep farmers , I grew up listening to the weather woes of our country cousins, even in the towns head into the local general store and the shop assistant is likely to greet you with"G’day, too bloody hot today isn’t it?” Country folk do get on with things, so do city folk, but both city and country people are prone to a good old fashioned whinge!!
      Also Phil is right, city heat is different to country heat, the environment makes the people’s experience different. In both city and country though there are those that struggle to cope with weather extremes. In the country however the big old homesteads were often purpose built for the weather, big wide verandas, high ceilings,showing us that one of the greatest mistakes many city dwellers have made is giving up on designing houses according to the climate.
      The other thing you need to remember is that country folk are not our backward cousins, they have all the same mod-cons that we do, air conditioners, ceiling fans and the like…..and like most city folk, they’re not afraid to use them!!!

      Reply

    • Trevora says:

      09:54am | 10/01/13

      Your comments about a heat wave and climate change, are all bullshit.
      I checked with Adrian Bolt and as he is the expert, you are all wrong
      Why are you making up all these stories about heat waves and bushfires. Everybody who knows the real story, claim this is all a Gillard and left wing plot to embarrass him.
      We certainly do not want to do that, do we?

      Reply

    • NSS says:

      11:43am | 10/01/13

      Pet, I wouldn’t worry too much about people in Coober Pedy. They’re all cool as cucumbers underground, protected by meters of solid rock from the searing rays topside. That’s the sanest approach Outback and has worked for decades. Wish we could do that in the city when the AC fails! I’d love a hobbit hole under the nearest hill.  Ha! (Wouldn’t mind the odd opal as well, just as a bonus.)

      Do so agree though that people have very short memories from Summer to Summer. Weird, that. Seems to affect males more often than females though, in my experience. My partner says every year “geez, it’s never been this hot before!” to which I merely roll my eyes and sigh.  Maybe women remember such things because we choose to forget real discomfort, stuff like the pain of childbirth for instance. Now, there’s a theory for ya!

      Cheers.

      Reply

    • Thin-Ice Skater says:

      12:14pm | 10/01/13

      Everyone please go suck on an ice cube.

      Reply

    • Not a country resident thankfully says:

      01:31pm | 10/01/13

      Oh please. I dated a chap from a farming family from the country when I was young and stupid in my 20’s and his farming family as well as their farming neighbours did nothing but constantly whinge.
      Not enough employment opportunities in the country. Heavy inland winter frosts in the country. Hotter weather in the inland country. Not enough rain for the crops. Too much rain for the crops. Too much wind for the crops. Not enough wind for the wind generator. Not enough services in the country. Poor bus services in the country. No shops within walking distance in the country. No regular mail service in the country. Poor mobile reception in the country. More potholes on country roads. Poorer salaries in rural areas. Too many odours and too much noise in the country (well what what you expect living on a working farm and surrounded by other farms). Blah blah blah blah whine whine whine whine. Honestly it was a good thing they did live in the bloody country because then they would have had nothing to constantly whine about.

      Reply

    • ramases says:

      03:07pm | 10/01/13

      Pretty good job of whining there yourself. Seems to have rubbed off on you and stuck

 
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