I think it is high time I had a moan about the weather! I have been suffering in silence (as far as the weather is concerned) the last two months and now I must register a protest. The weather, during the spring of last year, was exceptionally fine and old HK hands shook their heads and predicted a wet summer: and by Jove, they were right! The wet weather continued through the autumn and we had comparatively few of the bright, sunny days, for which HK autumns and winters are renowned. But there was one compensation in this: except for a few hot weeks in Sept., the summer was a remarkably cool one. At the beginning of Dec. we suddenly had (for HK) a very cold snap and the temperature, one morning, fell to 38’. Usually these cold snaps, when they come, last only a few days, but this one persisted almost till Xmas. It was raw weather with a North wind and low grey skies. Then it cheered up a bit for Xmas and the sun came out for a few days. January was mostly grey and cold with North and North East winds, though we had just a few cloudless days. At the beginning of this month it again became perishingly cold and, so far, there is no sign of a let up. The new moon (Chinese New Year) is due tomorrow or the next day and this may bring in a change. Even Mr Lammert, who has lived nearly all his life in HK and who seldom exaggerates in such a manner, says he can never remember such a protracted spell of cold weather in HK before. In the famous winter when icicles festooned the Peak, he said, the cold snap lasted only a few days. Normally the Peak temp is about 8’ lower than the temperature in town and with the mercury at 38’ (3.3C) here it is probable that it must have been very nearly freezing on the Peak.
I don’t know if the thermometer has fallen below 40’ this time but I seem to be feeling the cold more now than I did in Dec. 40’ (4.4C) does not seem particularly cold when one compares it with English winters; but the condition here is vastly different. To begin with, our blood must be terribly thin – composed chiefly of rice water with a little colouring matter! Then our food is entirely deficient of fats and that makes an enormous difference to our ability to resist cold. Y and I are on our last tin of butter now: we scrape a little on our tea scones each day and that is all. In this way 1 lb of butter will last the two of us for 6 weeks! It may be that in eating it in such small doses it does us no good at all, but we feel that we must absorb all of it and none goes to waste.
The muscles of most of us, are entirely unprotected by fat and, as a result, people displace muscles astonishingly easily. Jean Walters, two days ago, badly displaced a muscle in her back by straightening up rather suddenly from crouching in front of her chatty; and one of the gardeners dislocated his shoulder whilst putting on his coat after work!
We feel the cold because of our lack of warm underclothes. I have only short cotton pants and sleeveless singlets and the same with Y. This afternoon I have been wearing a khaki shirt, a pullover, a thick long sweater, a jacket and my overcoat and I still feel chilly! Of course we have no means of heating our rooms and the temp must be about 55’ (12.7C) or so in the day time and much less at night.
Our night attire is really funny. Yvonne wears a vest, two cardigans, a pair of pants, a pair of woollen or flannel slacks (daytime garb) and two or three pairs of socks! I wear a vest, my daytime pullover and sweater, a pair of pants, my normal pyjama trousers and Yvonne’s normal flannel pyjama trousers on top, plus two pairs of socks! On top I have 5 blankets and Y’s and my overcoats and in this way I manage to keep warm at night! Y feels the cold even more than I but with the aid of her fur coat, my raincoat and a mintoi (Chinese cotton quilt) she manages to keep warm.
Isa used to wear, at night, a pair of Mr Lammert’s grey flannel trousers, (which, according to Yvonne, Isa had bought for him by barter of a good many cigarettes) over which came her night dress (which, again according to Yvonne, had a hole in its back) plus innumerable jersies etc. She looked like an Oriental in the transitional stage between his native and European costume! There was a further complication here too, because Mr Lammert had to go to bed before Isa could have his trousers and in the mornings, Isa had to get up before Mr Lammert could complete his toilet!
“Life is real, life is earnest,” but thank goodness we can still see some of the humour in it. (I must confess that I have grown somewhat grim in this place. I trust I shall return to normal when we get out).
Some of the local sights are really worth seeing – Mr Lammert out of doors in a sort of knitted balaclava helmet and my mackintosh (which is sizes too small for him – he being 6’ 3” and I only 5’ 10”); sundry people have overcoats made out of blankets; others wear their dressing gowns under mackintoshes! Another curse about the cold is that it makes us so ravenously hungry. Well, for all these sundry reasons I hope it will soon grow warmer!