Wellingtonians love a good chat about the weather – how long the winter is lasting, how short the summer was, how unseasonably hot/cold/dry/rainy it’s been, and of course any observation about the state of the air currents (aka wind) is always topic de jour. Weather is definitely a safer topic than politics, sport, religion, etc.
In this part of the world it is quite possible to experience four seasons in one day, especially if a warm northerly breeze is pushed out of the way by an insistent southerly howler. Those southerlies travel up from Antarctica so fast I am sure you could smell a fishy penguin beltch or whale fart if you stood on the south coast long enough.
After years of study I have deduced that the clouds are in on it. They seem to always be hanging around in the wrong place at the wrong time. It can’t be a coincidence. They are definitely involved in some sort of cover up!
The Cloud Conspiracy
I hear the roll call of stations
as I pass the hills - softly verdant -
no shadows are cast this morning.
The clouds have gathered
for their own climate conference.
Looking at their demeanour I can see boiling of anger begin
I suspect that wind and lightening will
join them this afternoon for a hard summer storm.
Angele Toomey Poetry 