Global Warming?

I blame the weather! Despite the fact that I can virtually see the Tropic of Canc... Capri... whichever one is the northern one... from my window, it sometimes gets a tad chilly around here. Every day, around 4:15 p.m., along with 90% of the local population, I receive a text message via my mobile phone informing me of the likely weather conditions for the next day. At least, that's what they claim! I know for a fact that the young lad in charge of this miracle of communication, just glances out of the window, guesstimates the temperature and then assumes that tomorrow will be the same! In the past, I have received urgent updates when the poor cove has announced a heatwave and ten minutes later it started snowing! Well, not exactly, but you get the picture! (By the way, I have seen snow here! Three flakes in 2001.) Recently though, the weather chap has had his work cut out. Conditions have gone completely mad. Normally, at this time of year, we would be huddled around our rice bowls, wearing the entire contents of our wardrobes and burning the wardrobes themselves. It doesn't really get that cold, but few people have any heating (or are unwilling to turn it on - even when we don't have powercuts.) Average temperatures for January are between 5 and 10ºC, although I have seen it occasionally fall below 0ºC. On Tuesday, it was 22ºC but but then fell to a mere 9ºC on Wednesday. There are those of you who will tell me that 9ºC is not cold. OK. Next time it is anywhere near that temperature, turn off all your heating and open all the windows! The problem this "winter" is the wild swing between temperatures. It has been bouncing up and down like... well you know what I mean. I have never known anything like this before, here. It is still milder than usual and today is what I believe they call "crisp" - a euphemism for sunny but c-c-cold. They are now telling me that it will climb back up to around 18ºC by the weekend! That young lad is having a nervous breakdown! (P.S. The most reliable weather forecast for Liuzhou I have come across is that provided by Yahoo Weather)

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