Mick
It just shouldn't be this cold , after all we are sub tropical , the tropic runs just 200 km north of here , glad we don't have it near as cold as you , 3*C [ 37*F ] here this morning outside , so needless to say I'm still inside where it's warm , stuff the early morning walk , for some reason a early morning walk just isn't as much fun with out a daypack and rifle , or maybe a bow
I used to go hunting down Mitchell every winter , actually several times during the winter and it used to get bloody cold there , -6 C [ 20*F ] was pretty normal , the property I used to hunt on was always far colder than Mitchell it's self , I was down there when they recorded the coldest day on record for Mitchell it's self , the official reading was -9*C [ 15*F ] , I was staying at my mates new place , he had bought the old catholic church from Mungallala and moved it to his property down by the river [ dry ] , I was sleeping in two swags inside each other with two sleeping bags and every stitch of clothing I had out there with me and I was still cold , around first light I got sick of trying to sleep and just laying there freezing so got out and started walking around , mate had a bedroom in the little side room and it was slightly warmer , about the time he come out looking very hung over I looked at the thermometer on the wall and it read 0* , I said to the mate , bullshit , this thermometer is wrong , we get 0* all the time in winter and it's never near as cold as this , mate laughed and said , that is the original thermometer from the church , it's in Fahrenheit , too cold , about that time we decided that we needed a good hot cup of coffee , the inch of water in the kettle had frozen solid and we had to use a brick to knock a hole in the ice in the top of the tank to fill it up , after several cups of strong coffee liberally laced with rum we were feeling much better , I think the half bottle of rum between us had a fair bit to do with that ,
The temp eventually got up to 0*C that day but they reckoned that the wind chill dropped it about another 3 or 4* , just too bloody cold for me
Yep arthritis is fun , one of the things most people have to look forward to as they age , I think I get it from my Mum's side of the family , dad at 76 doesn't have it but mum has had it for years , I got it at 30 after a fun time with Ross River Fever , Q Fever and a few other viruses thrown into the mix , always fun having to run your hands under the hot tap before you can do simple things like hold a coffee cup with out dropping it , but by the same token it's far better to be in pain and alive than pain free and dead
David
