oh the weather outside is...?

Some people have asked me about the weather in Melbourne this time of year. "You're heading into summer down there," they say. "Must be nice to wear shorts in December!"

Sure, sure.

I would like to take a moment to describe my personal experience with the weather yesterday. 

I decided to take a trip to the Queen Victoria Markets, which Anne had suggested to me as a great place to buy fruits, veggies and souvenirs for family back home. I stepped out onto our balcony for a weather test. It felt a bit cooler than the warm sunshine we'd been enjoying earlier during the week, and it was slightly overcast. I dressed in a few layers and a knit hat, and made my way to the bus stop to catch the free City Circle Tram to the market.

The QVM is massive and crazy, with giant warehouses filled with rows upon rows of booths. People sell everything from fresh mangoes to knock-off designer purses, plush wombats to giant posters of One Direction - you know, daily basics. There was lots of shouting and bargaining, crowds of people everywhere, utter chaos. I browsed the aisles, comparing prices of things, going through my to-do list. And then I heard what sounded like a pack of rhinos charging across a field of eco-friendly potato chip bags. 

As it turned out, it was not the apocalypse, but a heavy rain shower pounding down on the warehouse roof. I glanced outside and it looked like buckets of water were being dumped onto the sidewalks. People instantly took shelter inside, merchandise booth workers were furiously pulling out tarps to cover their plush koalas and boxing kangaroos, as the wind ripped through the warehouse, scattering wooden souvenirs and price signs everywhere. One man tried to make a profit from the situation, holding out cheap umbrellas and shouting "Umbrella! Umbrella! Five dollar!" A few minutes later, the rain died down, and it was slightly sunny and a bit warm. People began wandering outside again. And then not ten minutes later, another stampede of raindrops hailed down upon the city, and that man finally started selling a few of those five-dollar umbrellas. After I was finished at the market (and after several more cycles of rain-dumping), I caught the tram back to the apartment. It was still overcast, but dry, and there were no more raindrops to be seen.

Later that afternoon, I headed out again to run some errands in the neighbourhood. I consulted the balcony for another climate check, and realized that it had cooled down significantly - almost like late fall/early winter weather. I bundled up, headed downstairs, and saw that most of the people strolling along the sidewalk were in sundresses or shorts. Strange Aussies. The wind picked up and I was freezing, so I put on my hand warmers, then decided to stop into a cafe for an extra hot skinny latte for the warmth. 

The instant my cozy, woolen hands touched that cup of piping hot caffeinated goodness, the sun decided to leap out of the shadows and make its grand entrance of the day. No sooner had I taken a sip of foam, beads of sweat began forming on my forehead and it was instantly a warm spring midwestern day. Suddenly, shorts and a sundress were the obvious apparel choices, and I looked like a misplaced arctic explorer in my winter coat and knitted accessories. Embarrassed, I began peeling off layers and stuffing them into my messenger bag, and of course as soon as the last drop of latte was gone, the sun crawled back into its cave of heavy clouds and I was shivering again. The layers were promptly returned to my confused body.

So, the next time I am asked to describe the weather in Melbourne, I will just describe the emotions I recycled through during the timeline of my high school years. Because really, "unstable, erratic and kind of volatile" is probably a lot more accurate than any weather report for the state of Victoria.

And as I am typing this, I am wearing shorts in my sun-filled apartment.

CK