More talk about the weather

The slow and steady descent into winter has begun. It is a gradual and predictable process, not like in Sydney where you can be in the middle of winter and suddenly get a 30-degree day. The days at the moment are absolutely perfect. Cool in the shade, sometimes with a gentle cool breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and the sun a perfect temperature to warm the bones. Like reading the paper in the park on an autumn day.

And today, a harrowing reality of winter in Bangladesh has dawned on me. Winter means runny noses and colds, which, in a country famous for its loogie-hocking, the levels of mucus lining the footpaths, roads and anything else that happens to get in the way has already started to rise dramatically.

I am almost used to the hocking and spitting. But the nose-blowing (whereby one casually leans over, blocking one nostril and blows with all their might, leaving a long line of snot dangling from the nose, which is then swiftly pinched away from the nostril using two fingers and then flicked onto the ground) is a new habit for which I’m quickly learning I have little tolerance.

I had the displeasure of witnessing one particularly gross example of the old Blow, Pinch and Flick today – except there was a pause between the pinching and the flicking whereby the man looked at the contents of his nostrils (now dangling from his fingers) with a look of combined disgust and confusion as to what to do next. After some careful manoeuvrings, he managed to perform the flick with relative success.

Before I came here, my Aunty Gaye told me about when she lived in Papua New Guinea and the children used to use leaves to wipe their noses. If only I could say that was the case here.

However, winter also means that it’s not stinking hot – so I will concede that the snot is a relatively small price to pay.