I love rainy days, I just prefer to live in a climate that makes me value rainy days more often. That is the thing with us British folk. We get too much of what some of the world is in desperate need of. Every time I switch on the news it is another nation burning from wildfires- recently Canada and the USA and even more recently Spain and Portugal.
As I sit in this tiny cafe and type up today’s post in Northern Sydney, I can’t help but listen in to the conversation between the lovely Asian owner and a local that stopped by for a quick coffee. ‘I am so happy I don’t have to water the flowers today’ she said in broken English. Here, rain is valued a little more. Downpours are nowhere near as frequent as they are back in blighty, so there is more optimism as the pair gaze out of the cafe entrance. People still walk around in shorts and flip flops, embracing the warm droplets splashing against them on route to pick up their pre orders. Oddly, I am the one wearing the most clothing, I assumed Aussies around me would feel the cool much more than me. Then again I don’t think some people here have jeans to put on.
Our world is incredible. It is capable of producing so many variable climates and terrains; hot and cold, wet and dry, land and sea, incredible peaks and deep oceans, bright days and the darkest nights. The diversity is pretty damn remarkable. What it doesn’t have is a perfect system, these variables aren’t spread evenly to make life struggle free. I imagine earth like a car built with the most incredible engine but with wheels facing opposite directions, the most aerodynamic shell but placed back to front. Would I give this car a ten out of ten if the features were there but not implemented correctly? Of course not. The world is this car. The features are great but the design is far from perfect.
It is certainly enough to help us scrape by, thankfully humans have intervened with technology to make this more bearable. We can all praise the conditions in which we live, but what would these conditions be like without our intervention? Can you imagine no air con, no heating, no cars to escape wildfires and no roof to shelter from the storms? As much as we should all be grateful for the Goldilocks zone we inhabit, let us not forget the incredible human achievements that make life not just livable, but enjoyable. The fact that we can spend a huge chunk of our lives not worrying about our environment killing us is a luxury many people didn’t have and still don’t. To have life is a gift. To have actual leisure time to enjoy it is much more precious.
One Chance to See the World 