Surviving the Antarctic vortex (PM)

The last couple of days have been pretty cold, and I expect that it will continue for the rest of the week. That expectation being based on the BOM website. But as K pointed out it IS LITERALLY THE MIDDLE OF WINTER! LITERALLY! So, nut the eff up everyone. Or, as my computer just auto-corrected that to, nut the Jeff up! HA.

Winter, should be cold. That is its whole raison d'être! From memory last winter was pretty mild, and frankly I feel a little ripped off when you don't have at least a few good cold days. Don't get me wrong, I don't want winter to be lost to an entire 3 months in the Antarctic vortex but I do like an excuse to rug up a bit and wear some of what can only be described as a surplus of coats, given what global warming is doing to the seasons. Plus today I am working in a library with a jumper on and a view of nude trees, it's classic winter and I love it.

This brings us to the more important issue of the media. I am not lying when I say that barely a day goes by that I don't lament the work of the media. They are truly such fear mongers. If they are not trying to work us into a fear of an Antarctic vortex they are telling us that we should be worried a terrorist attack is imminent and just to be safe we should probably be scared of anyone with brown skin. Also anyone that decides to catch a boat here is probably evil. And wants to steal our jobs. Of which there are hardly any anyway. Also if you are a woman you better watch out when you walk down the street. Also if you are a bloke too because you may get king hit. But even though men actually are in more danger of violence in the street than women you still don't need to be as scared as women. You know, because... women. Also be scared of ice. The drug, not the stuff from the Antarctic vortex.

Seriously media, I live in this city, and sure I spend my time mainly in the relatively affluent areas but I just think maybe we all need to chill the Jeff out. Which should be easy given the Antarctic blast.

Surviving the Antarctic vortex (AM)

When the news started going on about the Antarctic vortex weather pattern that was coming our way this past weekend, I responded in two ways.
First, I freaked out because I tend to run pretty cold and the words Antarctic and Vortex sound very very cold to me. I wondered how the eff I would manage to stay warm and comfortable in an Antarctic vortex when I have about five items of clothing that I still fit into and only one of them would be anywhere near appropriate for an Antarctic vortex.
Then, perhaps as evidence of my growing maturity (or my difficulty giving a shit about anything that doesn't relate to my current life-stage) I thought hang on a second...how cold are we talking here? When I looked at the forecast my attitude changed from fearful to smug. The Antarctic vortex was going to bring weather of between 5 and 13 degrees.
Sure, that's effing cold. But it's also the kind of rubbish Melbourne weather we get every single winter. It lasts a few days, then it gets better. Perhaps we have two or three waves of it, then it gets better.
So what we're dealing with here is Melbourne media's tendency to go apeshit over a little bit of entirely season-appropriate weather. It really cheeses me off, the way they do that. Getting through winter is no picnic. It is literally, no picnic. And being told that some terrifyingly named weather patter is in its way just makes it harder.
So shut-up media. We're all doing the best we can, and you're not helping.
But on a positive note, last night's ABC news kept showing footage of a samoyed running in the snow and very clearly loving life, which was very nice to see. It's the perfect weather for those guys!