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You all forget the light factor,guys! the light is so more beautiful in tropical/subtropical climates, more intense, more real!
OK, but I live in a city that gets almost 350 days a year of FULL SUN. When we have an overcast day, you can really see the subtlety in the colors and textures of your surroundings. The intense, direct sun just makes everything look like you are watching TV, flat, artificial and garish.
The superior resolution on cloudy/overcast days may have something to do with the fact that your eyes can relax and you don't have to squint every second of the day. I know people who have their sunglasses bolted to their faces. I don't think they have seen the outside world without looking through a lens of plastic in many years.
Let me also say here that I worked outdoors year round for many, many years and the only time the temperature was a bother was when it was really hot (over 85 or so). When it is cold, your activity warms you up and you can always put on layers. When it is too hot, there is no possible way to cool off short of dousing yourself with water which in the desert is a semi-mythological substance :-).
OK, but I live in a city that gets almost 350 days a year of FULL SUN. When we have an overcast day, you can really see the subtlety in the colors and textures of your surroundings. The intense, direct sun just makes everything look like you are watching TV, flat, artificial and garish.
The superior resolution on cloudy/overcast days may have something to do with the fact that your eyes can relax and you don't have to squint every second of the day. I know people who have their sunglasses bolted to their faces. I don't think they have seen the outside world without looking through a lens of plastic in many years.
Let me also say here that I worked outdoors year round for many, many years and the only time the temperature was a bother was when it was really hot (over 85 or so). When it is cold, your activity warms you up and you can always put on layers.
I love an overcast, coolish (say 45 degree) day with mist (not quite fog) in the air. It gives everything this sort of haunting surreal quality. I love that! Great jogging weather!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict
When it is too hot, there is no possible way to cool off short of dousing yourself with water which in the desert is a semi-mythological substance :-).
ABQConvict
Luckily, I don't do really heavy outside labor for work anymore. Baking in the sun at work is just miserable. I remember guzzling two liter bottles of water all day long and still feeling thirsty, and getting off work with my skin just caked with body 'salt.' I'd go to work at 150 pounds and get off at 145 pounds. MAN am I glad I don't have to do that anymore!
My family moved to a warmer climate for my wife because it has always been her dream. Now that I am here I have to say that I will never move back north. Georgia now and was in Wisconsin (USA), I can say that I will move out of Georgia in less than 2 years, but I have picked the 37th parallel as a guide for never moving north of. Happier yes, but you do have to do something with your new location! A bump on the couch is the same in any climate.
My dream is to move into a warmer climate, to coastal places in Croatia or Spain. But it will never happen. I have a good job here in Flanders. Social security is excellent, food is very good, crime low, people are friendly. If I want to have it better, I need to move upwards, to Scandinavia.
If I want to have it warmer in winter, I go on vacation As a rich filthy bastard from Western-Europe, I can spend my holidays in warmer (cheaper) places.
Comparing with the rest of Belgium, I'm in the best region. Temperatures here are the highest in this whole small country.
I would say that moving to a warmer climate really has not made any difference in my overall level of happiness. I moved to my current location of Los Angeles not by choice. In fact, I would have ended up living in Shanghai, China last year if I had been hired for a job. Shanghai has all four seasons but the summers there are humid. I would agree that when it is cold you can always put more clothes on to keep warm. When it is hot, there really isn't much you can do to keep cool except to get in a swimming pool or go for a boat ride. It is tough to do anything outside if it is over 100 degrees because you constantly have to think about replacing lost fluids. When I think about it, I belong in a cool, grey overcast climate like Seattle The rain is the best thing actually.
Since I've retired, I don't really care so much. If you never have to get up in the morning and go out in the cold and snow, you don't really care all that much what it is like out there. Things you have to do, you can just go and do them on nice afternoons.
But I love the hot summer, and even in South Texas, I find that winter is longer and colder than I'd like it to be, and I look forward to summer.
I'm currently living in the warmest climate I've ever lived in. While life is not perfect, it has worked for me, primarily because I love being outside and the activities I like doing (water sports, jogging and mountain biking) are just so much easier. This affects my fitness levels which I believe also affects my levels of contentment.
Every month of the year here is useable and I seldom have to wrap up or worry about the cold. I have a strong preference for sunny, warm weather and while Brisbane does not have a perfect climate, for me it is very good.
For many people they barely notice or get affected by the weather so their happiness is influenced by all other factors, but for me, the climate influences my well being more significantly.
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Bump on the couch
As a rich filthy bastard from Western-Europe, I can spend my holidays in warmer (cheaper) places.
The rain is the best thing actually.
