It’s been nice knowing you

Ahhh… I can almost feel the change in the air. Almost. It’s just about here… I can taste it. And as any of you seasoned Beijingers will know, the cold will descend in about the same time it takes to grow bamboo. Frighteningly fast.

Exciting.

You see, our family is pining for the end of summer. Perhaps it’s the vintage blend of the British Isles in our veins, but we love the cold. Descendants of lizards are we. Give it all to us – snow, ice, frost, slush, hail, sleet, flurries and blizzards – the lot. Bitter, frozen, icy, freezing, chilly, frosty, wintry, arctic are all good for us. Skating on frozen lakes is one of our favourite family pastimes of all time.

We love the numbness of frozen finger tips, the lull of hand warmers in the pockets, the snugness of a beanie on the head, earmuffs muffling the ears, thick socks packing boots, soft scarves under the chin, melty lip balm on the lips, warming hot cocoa puffed with marshmallows, huddling by an open fire, bed socks, throw rugs, tearing inside out of the frozen wind whilst laughing hard with breathlessness, cuddles and Eskimo kisses when the tips of the nose are cold.

We love love love it.

The only time we love the heat is when we can lounge by a five-star pool somewhere well south of here, sipping cocktails and fizzy drinks and deluding ourselves that we still look good in a swimsuit (well, Xiansheng and I, anyway – the kids are like whippets, like marionettes carve from solid muscle. Depressing.).

Actually, I lie – there are also other times we love the heat. Well, maybe not love it – perhaps just thoroughly abide it. It’s when we travel. We can put up with almost anything when we travel because – well, travel is such a privilege, and we can never get enough or lose our appreciation nor gratitude for it.

We even tolerated our blistering visit to Macau last week, and our sweltering traipse around Hong Kong for what feels like the umpteenth time. As per my previous post, Honkers is definitely somewhere we can tolerate the heat – probably because of our love affair with the city.

But I digress.

For now, I am simply looking forward to the days when my kids rush into the house from the school bus without looking like they’ve been dragged through a wet jungle backwards. I can’t wait to see them in their smart school blazers and their snug hats and boots on the weekend. I can’t wait to help them shove their feet into snow boots, and clump downstairs for a snowball thrashing.

These snow play times are most amusing for the attention we gather from locals. They quite literally stop and stare at us – not out of amusement – more with a kind of “but why would you do that?” kind of look. Indeed. Snow fights are the kind of thing that you love while they’re happening and you may or may not pay for later. Like most outrageously physical activities, they can end in tears. Doesn’t stop us from a repeat performance, though.

So goodbye summer – you haven’t been too hard on us this year (although a little heartless dumping all that normally-elusive rain on the Olympic Games). Have fun in the south… and don’t wait up for us.

Tania McCartney

Do you prefer summer or winter in Beijing? Does the cold or the heat do your head in? How happy are you to say goodbye to summer?