Jill Rees: Welcome Press

So how cold is Hammatan? The answer is - not very!Waiting for my driver in Abuja, the security guys were shivering in teeshirts, while I was relaxing in the evening air in my dress. After a while of watching me, one of them said

‘You’re not cold are you?’ I was amazed.

‘How can you be cold?’ I said, ‘It’s 25 degrees!’ This started a discussion about what you’re used to. In the UK, it isn’t really cold; it has a warm climate all year round. Moderated by the sea all around the island that is Great Britain, and in the path of the Gulf Stream, the warm current which comes to us from the West Indies, Britain is considered to be a temperate climate. The temperature varies between about 8° in winter to 18° in the summer. Occasionally, as happened this winter, there is a cold snap where the temperature may reach freezing, and sometimes it is up to about 25° in summer, but these less usual temperatures don’t last long. This didn’t stop the security guys being shocked and horrified at the idea of a temperature of 11°, as it is right now in the UK.

We can’t say they’re wrong: hot and cold are properties and however you say you feel, you feel. If you say you’re cold, you’re cold. It’s the same with taste: one person may find oranges sweet, another may find them sour, but neither of them is wrong, it’s a matter of personal taste. There’s no point arguing about it, as some of do with our children, saying

‘Try it! You’ll like it’ - they almost never do. If they don’t like it, they don’t like it! When it comes to beauty, it might be different. They say there are measurements of the face that determine if a person is good-looking or not. It is reasonable to debate the matter:

‘No she is not really beautiful, her nose is too big.’ Nevertheless, if you insist your wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, it would take a brave man to argue with you about it.

As I speak, it is 20° in Abuja at night, and reaches up to 35°most days. The air-conditioning is put on at 25°, which is considered a reasonable temperature by the expats. In this room, I feel pleasantly warm. I remember with surprise the summers in the UK, which are often 16°-18°. Only on the rarest day does the temperature reach 20 degrees. When it gets up to 23, we call it a heat wave. The weather forecast gives out extreme weather warnings and instructs people to use sunscreen and ensure old people are not overheated. We are warned against dehydration and told to wear covering up clothing, hats and sunglasses.

Global warming is blamed for the recent long hot summers in the UK - that is to say, the two weeks when it doesn’t rain much and the temperature rises around midday to above 20°. There is total panic, and people talk about closing schools. Of course, we don’t have air conditioning, and often our clothes are inappropriate for hot weather. In recent years, we have experienced rainfall in almost monsoon amounts, but we’re not sure whether it is the amount of rain which has caused flooding, or continuing development of flood plains, culverting of streams, concreting over town gardens to make carparks and carrier bags blocking the drains.

In Central Europe, many countries have had the same problem with recent flooding. The great River Danube has been straightened along much of its length, and damming has changed the nature of this ancient river. The normal areas which were flood plains, and which used to take up the excess water as the snow melted off the mountains, now carry the furious flow through continuous barriers. When it finally breaks over the river bank, it rages a destructive fury on the towns. We may be witnessing a change of climate, or just a change of effects due to development. Architects and engineers need to give us some answers! But even when councils know that building houses on flood plains will create flood disasters in the near future, the lure of money in the form of development encouragement payments (note, Nigerians - these are not the same as bribes, are they?!) induces them to continue to build. And people continue to buy houses which are clearly susceptible to flooding and complain when they can no longer get insurance.

I’m going to Austria in two weeks to do some teaching, so I looked up the temperature. It is 2° today, cloudy and windless. It is likely to remain around freezing until February, when it will gradually sneak up towards 6°. I’ve been hunting in Marks and Spencers for thermal underwear. My Canadian cousin Carolyn mocks my fragility. In Calgary, where she lives, it is minus 30° for much of the winter. Your breath freezes as it leaves your mouth, and you have to pull your scarf up over your nose, lest the liquid content of the aforementioned proboscis should freeze, with horrendous consequences. Nigerians are to be found in all these places. Even though they are unaccustomed to these unimaginably low temperatures, Nigerians study and work in the UK or the USA. My friend’s sister, who lives in Manchester, a city uniformly cold and grey, phones him regularly to say how cold she is! There are even Nigerians in Calgary, wrapped up in several jumpers and big furry hats. A travelling people, they aren’t put off by the temperatures. Oh no, the Nigerian knows how to suffer!

‘Put a jacket on’, I suggested to the security men, trying to be helpful.

‘No’, they all said, ‘No need’. In Nigerianese, admitting to being cold would be tantamount to showing your weaknesses to others, which we must never do!

Since the guys at security were shivering at 25° in Abuja, I would love to see their reaction to a day in Calgary!

© Jill Rees

13 January 2008

1012 words

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