Far from winterless

I want my money back!

I was sold on Northland by the catch-cry “the Winterless North” with Northlanders constantly telling me this was the place where winter never came.

Well, I’ve lived here for two years now and I’ve found that not to be the case.

Take this past month, for example. Yes we’ve had some hot weather, but also some very cold temperatures . . . and don’t get me started on the rain.

Oh, go on then. It’s been absolutely pouring down on so many occasions this past month, with at least three heavy rain watches and flooded roads and paddocks.

It seems I’ve only just mopped up, dried out the place and removed the flood/storm debris from the section when the sky opens up and it all starts again, and the experts say it could be quite a damp summer up here.

Maybe it needs to be renamed the “far from winterless North”, or the wet and wild and sometimes winterless North?

Whatever, it still beats the -15C to -20C I’d sometimes get in my former South Island home so I suppose I can’t complain too much.

Bring on the summer.