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I agree with the actual summer in activity terms being skewed away from the actual warm season in these places. Strangely enough the cooler summer places usually have longer days, something that heat and sun lovers crave. Of course at low latitudes the sun is still out long in summer, and there are much longer days in winter than in higher latitudes. Still, there are places like Redding, California that feature really long days and hot weather.
As for myself I don't like long days or lush vegetation (I hate jungle-like growth), temperatures are paramount so if the temperature was right I wouldn't mind if it was daylight for 20 hours, though if I could have the same temperatures I would have the maximum day length be 12 hours, since the equinoctial day length seems to be about as much daylight as I like to have .
Had to laugh at this one, as you would have positively hated living in my house in Ft Lauderdale - my whole yard was a slice of the Amazon, giant ficus trees and all. And whatever you cared to plant, it grew to uber-size, like overnight...lol. Didn't mind the shade though, it always felt about 10 degrees cooler out back than at the street under the bald sun, so it worked as far as that went.
As far as day length goes, it's the variation from summer to winter that I enjoy the most - I love the dramatic change from the short days of winter to the long days of summer and back again - and I've always been fascinated with watching the sun angle shift throughout the seasons, and that shift was just as dramatic in Florida as it is here, since the sun shifts 47 degrees back and forth no matter where you are on Earth. One thing that gets me about the daylight here, however, is that we're so far west in the Eastern Time Zone that the mornings are usually pretty dark, especially in March and October, with sunrises as late as 8 am. I'm a "lark", meaning I fall asleep early and wake up between 5 and 5:30, so that's a long stretch of darkness from then to 8:00. In high summer, when the sunset reaches a max lateness of 8:52, I find myself going to bed when there's still twilight outside...lol - dunno what I'd do if I lived in Alaska, or even Upper Michigan.
Other than sea temperatures I wouldn't think it'd matter much. And aren't there leaves on trees yeararound?
I was referring to other places I've lived (NZ and the UK particularly). I'm fresh off the 'boat' as far as Brisbane is concerned so it is a completely different kettle of fish here. I imagine summer here will be less enjoyable as that is our wet season.
Had to laugh at this one, as you would have positively hated living in my house in Ft Lauderdale - my whole yard was a slice of the Amazon, giant ficus trees and all. And whatever you cared to plant, it grew to uber-size, like overnight...lol. Didn't mind the shade though, it always felt about 10 degrees cooler out back than at the street under the bald sun, so it worked as far as that went.
I've seen some pictures of yards in Florida, and I hate the look of them. If I was condemned to live there, I'd probably fume and wait until the coldest day of the winter and then set a flamethrower loose on the whole property . I love shade and shade trees, though, so my ideal landscape would have lots of trees without a lot of other plants and creatures overrunning anything. Jungle-like growth just seems "dirty" for lack of a better description. Though I will say that there's something to be said for open woodlands and grassland landscapes. I love to watch full moons, stars, and sunrises/sunsets close to the horizon, and dense tree cover ruins that. To be able to observe an unobstructed sky and being able to see the full path of the sun from horizon to horizon is something I've never had the pleasure of experiencing, but from what I've seen on the rare occasions that I've been able to observe a sunrise unobstructed I'm sure it would be a treat.
For myself, continental and subarctic temperature regimes are best for what I like as outlined above.
Perhaps we should transfer this line of thought over to the other summer thread. This one is getting a bit sidetracked, though notably not as much as the one you started.
In the summer everyone is out and about wearing few articles of clothing and swimming, barbecuing, sports, etc, etc. Philly rarely makes the cover of the NY Times, but last summer one of our more popular swimming holes in the city caught their eye:
Anyone who's seen more than a couple of my posts in this forum may wonder why I'd post in this thread. But I'm posting because I do love summer. Summer here, that is. Daytime highs in the low to mid 70s, dew points in the 50s, long days with incredible sunsets, cool breezes coming across the saltwater, flowers everywhere, incredible greenery, and all sorts of events happening weekly. So unlike summers in Tennessee, and that's why I love it!
Oh Joy. I dont belong in here, someone lock me out. lol. I'll try to update you guys on any "extreme" heat we're getting. But if its just normal heat; I'll be in my corner. ... unless theres storms brewing.
To be honest, I never get overly excited about summer here.. even now I'm sort of ho-hum about it because I know it's never going to be warm enough to meet my expectations. It's just another season that is kind of bland to me with really nothing exciting. Even though it's May now and things should be warming up nicely, I am still too cold. Tonight, I was talking outside at about 10:00pm with a friend. I was wearing a sweater and a light jacket and after about 20 minutes in what I later found out to be 9°C, I was beginning to shiver and feel way too cold and my hands were starting to feel numb... I was just wishing and thinking to myself... This sucks.. can't I be warm for a change?
To be honest, I never get overly excited about summer here.. even now I'm sort of ho-hum about it because I know it's never going to be warm enough to meet my expectations. It's just another season that is kind of bland to me with really nothing exciting. Even though it's May now and things should be warming up nicely, I am still too cold. Tonight, I was talking outside at about 10:00pm with a friend. I was wearing a sweater and a light jacket and after about 20 minutes in what I later found out to be 9°C, I was beginning to shiver and feel way too cold and my hands were starting to feel numb... I was just wishing and thinking to myself... This sucks.. can't I be warm for a change?
This sums up exactly how I feel about our summers here really.
Last night it was -2 degrees in parts of Buxton and it's only reached 8 degrees so far during the day. The first half of May is set to be colder than the second half of December. The UK has no seasons but two winters: a cold winter from November - March and a mild winter from April - October. There is no summer to look forward to, just a few warm days every now and then.
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And whatever you cared to plant, it grew to uber-size, like overnight...lol. Didn't mind the shade though, it always felt about 10 degrees cooler out back than at the street under the bald sun, so it worked as far as that went. 
I'm a "lark", meaning I fall asleep early and wake up between 5 and 5:30, so that's a long stretch of darkness from then to 8:00. In high summer, when the sunset reaches a max lateness of 8:52, I find myself going to bed when there's still twilight outside...lol - dunno what I'd do if I lived in Alaska, or even Upper Michigan. 
