Springtime!!! White blossom on trees

[BobH]

Were you going to school in summer for remedial reasons?

That was the only reason for summer school in the States.

[ChrisGreaves]

Were you going to school in summer for remedial reasons? That was the only reason for summer school in the States.

No Bob, "school in summer" was different from "Summer School".
What you would call summer - really hot grain-drying weather - ran from November through March.
Hence towards the end of our school year, farmers would pull their kids out of school to help with the harvest - boys to drive the tractor-drawn combine harvester, girls to help with the cooking. Immediately after harvest came the shearing, so boys to help with droving, girls again with cooking.
The farm kids loved it - NO Exams!

In WA the education department decreed that schools be closed any school day that the temperature was at 80F by 8:00 AM (or some such measure), but in Southern Cross and other small towns, local opinion decreed that school was mandatory at those temperatures, because it kept the kids inside the school building ("Put your heads on your hands on your desktop and try to sleep") instead of them being down at the oval playing cricket, or racing around town on bicycles.
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

A bit over a week ago it was 19.5°C (67°F), with clear blue skies. Now, on the 1st of April, it is 1.8°C (34°F) at noon, and there is snow on the ground (just like yesterday).

April.jpg

[stuck]

...I may as well stay on the Bonavista Peninsula and pretend that I am in the North of England!...

No, I don't think you need to suffer that much. From what I can make out, northern England is almost tropical relative to the Bonavista peninsula.

Akin to how we discovered on our 2012 trip to New Zealand that their winter was no worse than a British autumn. Yes, there was some rain that verged on Biblical proportions** but it wasn't that cold so it didn't bother us. Meanwhile, the New Zealanders we met thought it strange that we'd chosen to visit during winter.

Ken
**So heavy that on one day we saw ducks sheltering up in a tree

[BobH]

Chris,

I think I've discovered your reason for living in Bonavista. You seek balance in all aspects of life; therefore the cold of Newfoundland counterbalances the heat of WA. No?

[ChrisGreaves]

I think I've discovered your reason for living in Bonavista. You seek balance in all aspects of life; therefore the cold of Newfoundland counterbalances the heat of WA. No?

Hi Bob.
No, not really.
You might say that the memories of the baking heat of WA and the reality of the long cold in Bonavista has left me more unbalanced than balanced.
Cheers, Chris