When many of you are speaking to us, one of the first things you ask about is the weather. 'How warm is it out there?' and even in the winter months we reply, 'well, around 20 degrees or so..' depending on the day.
The truth is, it's great, not having to think much about the heaviness of the clothes that you buy or if it's going to rain tomorrow or how long the clothes on the line are going to take to dry. But at the same time, there's a sentimental part of us both that likes to see the changing of the seasons and when a storm comes with heavy rain or strong winds, there's a sense of awe that we don't usually experience and we're out at 5am in the morning in the terrace trying to video lightning.
On the other hand, the summer months are another story. The temperture can reach as high as 40 degrees and it's unbearable and you feel quite incapable of going about your daily routine. If you go out at all you can expect to sweat buckets and if you don't take water you get dehydrated in a few hours. In Northern Ireland, you're lucky if you get a week of warm weather over 20 degrees and everyone is out in their shorts getting burnt and eating ice lollys.
Our experience of living in the two places has led us to believe that the reason that the way of life in the two places is so different is simply because of the weather.
In NI and in the UK in general, people keep busy. They work more hours and when they're not working, they're involved in church, in extracurricular activities, maybe part-time hobbies or businesses that they have or just going over to friend's houses for the night. Overall, there's not much time spent outside. Occasionally in the Summer you might have a barbeque in someone's garage but most of your visiting is from house to house and within doors for the simple reason that it's cold outside. We think that because it's cold, people unconsciously keep busy. Keep moving. Keep warm.
Here, it's the opposite. When I first came here and experienced the way of life I was quite shocked because to me, it seemed like everyone was quite lazy. I never saw anyone do anything too strenuous or rush somewhere and it would have been a shame if they missed their wee siesta rest in the middle of the day. Over time and after getting to know the people, I realised, it wasn't laziness that I saw, but it was simply a way of dealing with the heat. If you're already warm and sweaty, the last thing you want to do is lug your shopping up two flights of stairs. And in the warmest part of the day, after eating, you become sleepy and it makes sense to go and rest for a bit until it's cooler. For these reasons, the pace of life slows down. Take it easy. Don't stress yourself too much. It's too warm for that.
Of course there are pros and cons to each way of life and I think NI would need a little bit of what the Canary Islands has and the Canaries to have a little kick of what NI has but in the end, that's the beauty of life. God has created different lands, different people and different cultures and the world would be a boring place if we were all exactly the same.