New Coastie – Welcoming winter

My fig tree is shedding its leaves and my guava trees are starting to bear fruit. My tomatoes are at their wits end and I can see the bitter disappointment in all the birds’ faces when they find that there are no more peaches to nibble. Mornings are darker than my cat’s grey fur and the phrase, “it’s dark already” has started to become the mainstay of the evenings in our household. The heat pump is tested in its dual role, warming us during the nights and cooling us during the afternoons. Every year these are the signs that make me realise: summer is over! 

Many of us were still pretending that it is the New Year. The end of summer marks the end of that hope and promise and makes us realise that it is already April. Yes, it is technically autumn but who are we kidding? In our heart of hearts we have accepted that it is winter and soon the air will become crispier than a bag of crisps and the ground as slippery as your local MP’s promises.  

Here is the twist – I love winter. I embrace it every year like a long lost relative who brings hot chocolate and a warm hug. I grew up in Karachi, Pakistan where the summer goes beyond 40 degrees and the winters hover around the 30s. Growing up we used to visit my mum’s family up north in Lahore in winter where the weather was akin to a Christchurch winter. 

I remember going for walks in the park with my cousins at the break of dawn right after morning prayers. The rising sun lit up the frosty grass like fields of shimmering silver. We would run together on the grass to see who would slip and fall on their butt first. There was embarrassment for the ‘slipper’ and laughter for us all. The embarrassment didn’t last long because someone else would fall in the next round. After several rounds of laughter and bruised butts we would all go together to a shack and gorge on the breakfast of Naan Chanay, Lahore’s favourite breakfast of fresh hot naan from the clay oven and spicy chickpea and chicken curry.

In my hometown of Karachi, winter is welcomed with hopeful anticipation and joy. It comes in as a fresh breeze from the north which  cools us down from the highs of a scorching summer. The couple of days when the temperature does fall below 20 degrees, droves of people come out to drink hot tea and eat soups. 

“It is cold today, let’s go out” used to be the general sentiment of my family.

Living in New Zealand I have come to love both seasons. Summer is the bright hope for the future and winter is my connection to the past. The future cannot exist without the past. One cannot be whole without the other. Aotearoa is perfect for me, due to the existence of Matariki. So as we hunker down for winter, I remember fondly those people and the times that have passed and am more grounded on the land that I live on now. Let us all embrace the upcoming winter in our own unique ways.