Temperature

San Francisco is going through something of a heat wave at the moment; it hit 96 degrees here today with no breeze, which was very unpleasant and called for frosty beers after work.

Unpleasant as it was I started to realise how much I had in common with San Franciscan natives. As I left the building I met a guy in the lift and mentioned the heat outside.

“Awful isn’t it,” he said with a grimace.

I’ve found my spiritual home it seems. I’m very much a cold weather person; under 75 degrees and I’m happy – over 85 and I’m working from home to avoid the pain of travelling in such a climate.

Part of it is down to upbringing. At boarding school the single pane windows were open more often than not and one home in Bakewell had the windows painted open and the gap stuffed with newspaper. I got used to cold weather and now heat is very uncomfortable.

Now there are two cities in the US I could live in: New York and San Francisco. While all my friends are in New York the summers there are brutally hot and winter is just too cold. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve rolled semi-naked in snowdrifts in Finland and endured Moscow in January – but that’s dry cold. New York takes London levels of moisture and chucks it down the back of your neck.

San Francisco on the other hand has Goldilocks weather; not too hot, not too cold but just right. Sadly the thermostat seems slightly out of kilter at the moment but hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.