cold

I grew up in the hills east of Melbourne, I won't name the town per se, but let's just say that, for a kid growing up it was great, but for a teenager wanting to go out, it wasn't so great. The reason I bring this up is because, being a 'hillbilly', i grew accustomed to countless days of rain and tempretures barely nudging thermometers into action. I remember snowfalls and everything just being wet in the winter. Fast forward now to the 21st Century and the drought that has wracked this part of the world for the best part of 10 years. Last year, when I was teaching, I don't think we had one wet day timetable where the kids stayed inside at playtimes. However, we have had, over the past three months, average to above average rainfall, everything is cold and wet like I remember it as a kid. My feet are cold, my sneakers are permanently 'moist' and my nose runs continuously. Finally, a real winter in Melbourne! Back in 2003 when I lived through a UK winter I thought I was going to die. Seriously, I don't know how, or why, those people put up with it. I didn't matter if I sat in front of a blast furnace for like 2 hours, there was just no way to get, and stay, warm. Last night was monumental in Cleo's assimilation into our house. We managed to get the leash on her and coax her out the front door. Apparently she has never been on a lead before, which showed as she didn't like it at all, however, there were moments where she was happy trotting along next to us, so there is hope yet. We'll see how she goes tonight. She's becoming much more accustomed to us now and she's letting me pat her even more. Miss R on the other hand is having all sorts of issues with her, which is normal as Miss R sometimes has very little patience with these sorts of things.