Winter woes!

I for one do not see the appeal of the cooler weather and I truly detest the rain. I know for many of you it makes a nice difference but remember I travelled here from halfway around the world to escape it.

It's obviously nowhere near as bad as back in Blighty where in the winter it gets so cold, wet and miserable that even aspirin gets a headache. It's dark in the morning when you wake up, during the day the best you can expect is a sludgy grey sky, only to be relieved come 4pm when lo and behold, it's dark again! I can honestly say that even though I have been here close to six years now, I still get a rush when I walk out in the morning and feel that warmth on my skin from the sun, so that my bones get warm. It's a pure booster for me, puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

It's a good dose of the magical Vitamin D I understand, and to see the brightness of sunshine is nature's feel-good factor! How do you find the mood of the city when the temperature drops? Amazingly, most people take it in their stride and quite enjoy the silly season! The only upside that I can see is that it gives us all an excuse to snug into some nice wintry clothes – some funky jumpers and that – we all look like extras from Wham's Last Christmas video, which incidentally was recently voted the People's Favourite Festive Song! Talking of songs, the other change I notice is that when I am driving at night I am more likely to put on some slow tunes on the iPod that I can sing along with so as to warm up my soul.

I am just (badly!) organising a trip back home to see my folks, six months later than when I promised I would visit so maybe the downturn here is good preparation for what awaits me. It won't be so much of a culture shock, I guess, seeing as how it gets down to 20 degrees here at some points. I have become such a lightweight in this regard.

I remember surviving for years back home in temperatures much lower, yet here and now, I shiver like a vibrating chair when I am out at the cafes doing my writing. I am all for chilling out, but believe me I don't want to chill when I am out! I am all for being cool but not so literally! I have no shame when it comes to keeping the cold out – if anyone should see me wrapped up in a pashmina sitting out at Dubai Marina don't worry, I have not changed my gender or converted … I will do just about anything to keep myself as baked as possible!

I don't know if it's scientific fact or if I just made it up, but is it possible that once we acclimatise to a warmer environment our blood thins so we are more susceptible to the cold? Does that happen? Or maybe it's my other theory that as a man with a shaved head I lose much more body temperature up top as it all goes through the roof so to speak. This is where I really suffer from having a small brain I guess. There's just no insulation up there! It's where having a head full of air rather than hair works against me for once!
So in these troubled, testing times, I need your reactions to keep me going.

Penguin-ingly yours