A white Christmas?

I pull my coat collar up, tuck my scarf in and step out into the cold December night. It's only a short walk to the church and the Christmas Eve Mass is about to begin. We have been home for just over a week and already my winter woollies have established themselves as the clothing of choice and the electric blanket has been permanently installed on the bed. But wait - this is New Zealand. Only two days ago we celerated the summer equinox. This should be a balmy mid summer's eve. At least that's what my childhood memories suggest. But already huge icebergs have broken off from the Ross Sea ice shelf and assembled themselves along the southern coast of New Zealand: a vast Armada. The polar wind in their sails forcing temperatures down to single figures. But it's not only unseasonal here. Why just today we had news from UK friends disappointed that their visit to Lapland to see Santa had been totally devoid of snow, just slushy under foot and unseasonably warm for mid winter. I suddenly remember the summer floods that devastated northern India and vast areas of Nepal only a few months ago and recall a Radio NZ report last week that the hole in the southern ozone layer is so much larger than ever imagined. Still, all this must be normal. George W Bush is telling us 'America will not over react in the face of the latest climate change reports' (NZ Dominion 27/12/06) and John Howard agrees, so perhaps I'm just imagining the cold rain tonight and the fierce burning of the sun I felt on my head earlier today? As I enter the church and kneel to pray I wonder what sort of summer memories our grandaughter, Su-Jin will take with her into the mid years of the 21st century - sun screen and an overcoat perhaps? Whatever they might be they will certainly be very different from mine, or those of her great grandmother who would recall long summer weeks at the beach and boast of going back to school after the summer break “as brown as a berry”. Still one thing never changes - “You can't beat Wellington on a good day.” It's just that there seem to be far fewer of them now than once there were.