I AM GOING TO TURN INTO AN ICICLE AND YOU WILL NEVER HEAR FROM ME AGAIN

[highlyeccentric]

The temperature is 9 degrees celcius, the apparent temperature... is not showing on the BOM site for Canberra right now but in Tuggeranong it is 3.2, so here it may be anything between 3.2 and 9 degrees, I guess. Yesterday the apparent temp. got down to -0.7.

IT IS NOT EVEN WINTER YET. WTF?

Ok, facts: I went out last night in tights, knee-high socks, mid-calf boots, jeans, a singlet, a long-sleeve top, a jumper, a jacket (mid-thigh), gloves and a hat. My torso was warm but my legs froze.
People who actually live in cold climates: what do you wear on your legs? Because I have to walk to work at 8am every morning in winter, and I do not want to endure horrible stinging pain every morning when I get to work and my completely-numb legs encounter the building's heating system.

Right. Now I'm going to go and try to cook things, because that might warm up the house (even though by the Rules of Canberra I'm allowed to turn the heater on now, as it's past Anzac day, I don't really HAVE to. It's only Cold inside, not OMGYOUBASTARDFREEZINGCOLD).

Comments

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

if you're outside walking in it, you'll probably get used to it soon and it won't be as bad.

Experiments suggest that when outside walking in what I think is not really that bad, as cold goes, my legs get progressively number no matter what I think on the matter. My toes are out for the count within fifteen minutes...

I have bad circulation, and I got chillblains in winter in NEWCASTLE (for reference, the max in Newie today will be 20, while Canberra is hoping for 13). I assume after a year here I will adjust a bit, but I'm always going to have bad circulation, and I'd rather not end up with Reynauds like my brother's got...

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Eep, things tending toward Reynauds are different! Ignore me being flippant and Canadian - it's not like I haven't had bad experiences with my feet being so cold I wanted to die (and taking hours to stop aching once I got warm). That's usually come from standing around outside in the cold for a long time, though. I second everyone who says hats and thermal underwear - I find that how cold my feet get has a lot to do with how cold I am globally. Maybe a long-underwear suit, with a top as well? You might have to change when you get to work to avoid suffocating from the heat, although maybe in Australia you don't have as much of an issue as we do with overheated buildings in the winter. How cold does it get in Canberra? You could also try stomping a lot, if your feet are going numb... if your hands are a problem, I've recently discovered that flailing your arms, windmill-style, forces blood into your hands.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. My brothers' Reynauds is supposed to be non-genetic, but I noticed when I was out in the early mornings in Sydney that my hands were going white with orange spots... so promptly re-arranged my schedule so as not to go out before 10am! That's no longer an option, and since I do actually want to study overseas I have to learn to Deal With The Cold...

I'm sure I'll adjust... I'm just freaking out because it's *not even winter yet*. I don't know how cold it normally gets, because my workmates like to tease me and tell me horror stories.
*peers at the BOM* ok, for some reason the climate averages are all calculated 1974-1988, but whatever. June-July August the mean 3pm temperatures are apparently 10-12 degrees, and the 9ams are 5-6 degrees. September and October pick up a bit, but they're also ski season and I'm informed that the windchill off the snow-slopes in September can keep the apparent temp. below zero all day.

Basically, NOT VERY COLD on a global standard, but FECKING IMPOSSIBLE compared to nice just-south-of-subtropical coastal cities such as I am used to.

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sure once you get proper gear it will all be fine. I've never lived anywhere where winter doesn't involve four or five months of snow and rarely getting above freezing, so these are things I've never thought about - winter clothes were always just there, and my mom brought them up out of their plastic bins in the basement every fall. My grandmas must have knit hundreds of pairs of mittens (and socks and scarves and tuques) between them...

On the other hand, I can't handle humidity at all. Give me 40 degrees in the daytime and I'll be warm but content - but 25 degrees and humidity and I'll be homicidal.

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Oh, and everything you've heard about Canadians loving to talk about the weather is totally true.

Also, if you can wear wool, wear it. It's more snuggly and delicious than anything else (providing it doesn't make you want to scratch your entire skin off). I'm a big fan of smartwool (www.smartwool.com) if you can get it - I have a pair of smartwool tights and I find that they're enough to withstand cold mornings on their own.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

I think I need real wool socks, but where to find them I have no idea... We used to buy a couple of pairs of sturdy wool socks every so often from a Sock Drive (like a chocolate drive or a doughnut drive, but socks), but the company which ran them shut down... :( All the socks I usually buy are polyblend, which is clearly Not Good Enough.

[strippedbare.livejournal.com]

http://www.sockdreams.com/_shop/edit/index.php

I just did an order with another friend in Canberra to cut back on shipping costs, if I'd known you'd be desperately seeking Warm Stuff I'd have tipped you off!

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

'M gonna try to find a pure australian wool sock company somewhere and order from them...