Always bring a jacket!

Cover of The Wahine DisasterI love weather, (especially fine sunny weather!) but being a Wellingtonian I experienced storms on a regular basis, including the Wahine storm, against which every weather event is now measured, in my head anyway.

I then lived in a very sunny small town for 26 years. I would often think that what people needed was a good southerly storm to blow away the cobwebs; appreciation of lovely weather needs some experience of the opposite. My advice to my children, when they left town was, "always bring a jacket, there's weather out there!"

So now Christchurch provides just enough weather to keep me on my toes, something to talk about and which does not allow too much complacency about saying “come over for a barbecue”. Take this morning: we planned a day at the beach, it's already poured with rain, now the sun is shining and the wind is increasing in intensity. Alternatives must be discussed and explored. Life is never dull when weather has to be factored in to every activity outside the house.

Cover of This Barren RockSo I love to read about weather-related incidents, since coping with weather is almost a full-time job.

Try This Barren Rock: 1875, A True Tale of Shipwreck and Survival in the Southern Seas by Sylvie Haisman, a tale of astonishing survival. The good thing is that, having been written by the woman's great-great-great-grand-daughter, you know there must be a happy ending!

  • If you want to read more about that fateful day of the Wahine storm in April 1967, check out these Wahine titles in our catalogue.
  • Since we're now supposedly in spring and heading towards summer, here are some BBQ titles.

Cover of The Kiwi Sizzler Portable Barbecue Book Cover of Josh's Backyard BBQ Cover of Fired Up Vegetarian Cover of BBQ bistro Cover of NZ BBQ Book

What's your favourite weather-related book? Or do you have any BBQ book recommendations?

Kōrerorero mai - Join the conversation.

Trish
Network Library Assistant