Pakistanis and Cold Weather

It’s currently 15 degrees Centigrade.  In Britain, people would be out wearing shirts and thin trousers.  In Canada they would be wearing shorts and sandals.  In Pakistan, people are wearing just about anything and everything they can lay their hands on.

I’m not joking.  They are wearing woolly hats, padded jackets, scarves, shawls, and gloves.  And they’re been wearing them for over a month.  Ever since the temperature dropped below 25 centigrade (and that was some time ago, believe me) the good people of Pakistan have been wandering around dressed up like Ernest Shackleton about to set out on a voyage to the South Pole.

Because Pakistan is so hot for so much of the year any change in temperature has to be adjusted to.  We spend much of the year sweating like crazy and doing anything we can to cool down, so when the temperature drops our bodies struggle to adjust.  I find myself urinating all the time, because I’m not losing any water through sweating and my body adjusts accordingly (bet you wanted to know that).

The real challenge comes when it’s cold AND rainy.  That’s when people start to get sick, the gas pressure drops (because everyone is running heaters), and people publicly scold us for letting our kids run around without seven layers of clothing on.

Goodness knows how Pakistanis cope when they emigrate to Canada…