Cold. Like... seriously...

It's cold. Really, really cold. Winter has struck with a vengence, very suddenly. We've had a long, prolonged autumn. It's been wonderful. The leaves changed colours slowly, given time with the warm weather to display the most beautiful, wonderful hues. It's been warm. T-shirt weather. I've been walking around barefoot (which I do anyway... but at least without my legs seizing up from the cold), wearing short-sleaves with a jacket that I'd take off halfway through the day. The temperatures haven't dropped below 25 degrees (I'm talking Celcius, mind you).

But then, on Monday, the cold fronts hit. Fronts. Plural. The entire country has gone from warm and balmy and the collective ponderances that we were going to have an extremely warm winter, a deadly hot summer, and global warming this and that and blah blah blah.

But then, one Monday, the cold fronts hit.

The temperatures plummeted. From 25 degrees over the weekend to 12 degrees on Monday. Twelve! We were walking around, shivering our rear ends off, losing feeling in our earlobes and nose hairs. Three layers of sweaters or jerseys or jackets were not enough. Our legs froze through our jeans.

All in all, the country was locked in the new collective ponderance of "Oh my GOD".

All watched the weather on Monday night, last night, hoping for a reprieve from the bitter cold (because it was causing havoc with the washing machines - all those layers!). But it was not to be. Simon the weatherman on SABC 3 predicted temperatures a maximum of 9 degrees in Johannesburg. This morning, as I walked into varsity, I saw the puddles in the grass with a layer of ice more than a centimeter thick on the surface, icicles hanging from the trees in pretty sparkly splendour, and I thought to myself, "No FUCKING way..."

Because it was cold. Seriously cold.

And people are all going on about "Coldest winter ever" and "I've never seen anything like this" and "Not in twenty years of living here...." which happens EVERY year, but this time even my DAD is saying it (which never happens, so I KNOW it's an interesting year!)

Because it's all over the country. Good old Joburg is MILD in comparison. There's snow as far as Plettinburg Bay and close to Durban, which can always be counted on to be the country's single warm spot.

Not any more. Here's a photo a friend of a friend took, from Plett:

Snow! In Plett!

But anyway, like I've said, it's cold. I'm tired. I want my nice warm electric blanket and duvet and knitted blanket and my dog and cat that snuggle up with me.

And a nice cup of hot chocolate.