Living in the Ice-box

How come I'm living in a gorgeously warm climate yet I feel like taking finger-less gloves and a fleece to work every day?

You know what it is? I was sitting in a meeting this morning with a Scottish lady, two English blokes and an Aussie and we were all having a good old whinge about how bloody freezing it is in the wonderful cheese-grater building in which I sit at a 'puter all day pretending to work. And I thought, this is bloody crazy. I'm sure we didn't move to the other side of the world to develop Raynaud's disease and a penchant for herbal teas and hot chocolate. I envisaged coming to work every day in floaty summer dresses and flip-flops, not packing a bag full of jumpers.

This is the best time of year on The Sunshine Coast. The weather is warm and sunny and we're all just starting to hang up our winter coats and dust off our bikinis and sandals and yet here I am rubbing my hands and my arms, cursing the fact that I forgot my cardigan today. Don't get me wrong, in the dead of summer I'm very grateful for a little air-conditioning as sometimes it gets a little like a Turkish steam room outside but the fact of the matter is that after sweating like a Biggest Loser contestant on the way to work I then have to pull out a scarf, fleece and blanket to be remotely comfortable once I get here. We're told it's because of the books. Part of the library is on the second floor of this building and one year all the books went mouldy due to the humidity. But really, there has to be some kind of air-con setting between "mouldy books" and "frost-bitten employees".

So, here we are at the start of summer in Australia.... I'd better dig out my gloves and woolly socks.