It’s hard trying to get back to work in January in Melbourne.
It’s hard enough trying to get back to work after a break, but in Melbourne it’s always hot in January. I think the minimum overnight temperature last night was 25 (C). It’s hard to sleep when it’s that hot. Although we get hotter and last night wasn’t close to the worst night I’ve experienced here. Regardless, it’s hot enough and it is hard to sleep comfortably.
Today has been very warm. The maximum was about 36. Again, not as hot as it gets but hot nevertheless.
Then from about 4:30 this afternoon, the sky became very threatening. It was still hot but you could tell a thunderstorm was on its way. When its hot and you get a thunderstorm, you know you’re in Melbourne. The storm came through about 6pm. There was lightning, thunder and rain. Heavy rain. For about ten or fifteen minutes then it was gone.
There was quite a lot of cool air circulating around when the rain came but now (at 9pm) it’s hot and sticky again. I’m sitting next to an open window and every now and again I get a puff of cooler air, but not only enough to give a taste of a change. Not enough to know that it has cooled down again. It feels like it will be another hot night.
For the last hour it has been really eerie. The sky was completely clouded over but it was quite bright. Almost as though it was being lit from below the clouds, This is common in Melbourne in summer but I never get over it. Also over the last hour, the sky has been getting more and more red. Although over the last fifteen minutes it has slowly been getting darker and the red has almost completely faded away now. All this is typical of extreme weather conditions in Melbourne.
And it all means it is hard to get back to work. I get home from visits to clients during the day and I just don’t have the energy to do anything at night. Hardly even enough energy to check my email.
In a way it’s nice. It’s like extending the break. I don’t want to get on the treadmill again and work late every night. But it’s so hot during the day that I don’t get much done so I feel like I should be working.
I just have to keep telling myself this is what it is like every January and early February in Melbourne. I will get used to being back at work and the weather will quieten down to a beautiful Autumn. (There is nothing as beautiful on all the earth as Autumn in Melbourne.)
Gradually, I will get used to being back at work and forget that I even had a holiday. I hope not too soon and I hope that I will remember the groundedness of being on holiday. The feeling of being in touch with myself. I hope I will be able to cary these things right through the year.
