Hot town

It's not the first day of spring in Australia until tomorrow, but for Brits in Bris it has felt like summer for weeks. The weather has been glorious: clear, sunny skies; pleasantly warm days and not-too-cool nights. Pretty-near perfect weather for north Europeans, I would guess. Two or three weeks ago the chill in the shadows disappeared, since when it's been warming up nicely. The sky has started to lose its intense blue and become heat-hazy (above). They predicted 28 degrees yesterday, although a gusty breeze kept the max temp down to 25.6 in the end. There were sprinkles overnight, but it hasn't rained in Brisbane since 19 July. It will get cooler before it gets hot-hot, but I have felt the promise of those long hot days ahead.

In common with many northern European expats, I bemoan the absence of light evenings here, even in the middle of summer. But, encouragingly, this week the sun is setting behind the right-hand reaches of the CBD, as seen from my city-side balcony (below), not out of sight around the corner of the building. You can't imagine how happy that makes me. Soon there will be morning sunshine on one side and golden afternoons on the other, and all will be well with the world. (Well, apart from the impact of climate change, but that's not for this post.)

As I walked to the CityCat with a friend the other day, she speculated about how on earth we were going to manage when we have to return to live in the UK. The soul-soaring effects of sunshine most days of your life cannot be underestimated, and she and I never take it for granted for a minute. I have always moaned about the weather back home, ever since I was a little girl and desperately wanted to live somewhere else in Europe. I'll have to have therapy so that I shut my mouth whenever I feel an 'Aah, when we used to live in Brisbane...' moment coming on.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the sparkling river and the Turner-esque sunsets and the spring flowers and the birds busy nest-building and the wonderful warmth. This morning I even woke up to find that Brisbane had miraculously relocated to be beside the sea.