I know we've gotten off somewhat easy with our presumptuous packing. While everyone else has been struggling with the worst/longest winter in recent memory, we've had almost no winter at all. This isn't actually normal for the island, which typically gets gales and rainstorms throughout January, February and March, while we've spent large portions of our weekends on the beach in the hot sun. I'm not trying to brag...I'm just saying that "winter" was kind to us this year.

This week, however, the winds changed. Literally. We've had gale-force winds since Sunday night and some pretty intense rain. The winds are so strong that it's actually difficult to walk. We haven't been running this week...something about running in strong winds over narrow bridges in the dark just doesn't sound smart to me. The winds are so strong at night that it sounds like thunder when the wind hits our building. Along with this comes the worst part - the dampness. We're lucky in that our apartment seems to be one the driest places on the entire island...nothing is going mouldy, nothing is wet, nothing is stale. Thank. God. But, the building is still made of cement and the dampness outside translates into a much cooler inside. When we woke up this morning, the temperature in our apartment was 58 degrees...14 degrees celcius. This is not warm.

We've realized that our lack of winter gear makes us slightly less than prepared for a weekend in New York, where it is actually still winter. We never even thought about the fact that we'd be travelling to the real world when there might still be snow on the ground. The forecast has gotten steadily better and it now looks like it will be somewhere between 8 and 10 degrees and sunny, but this is still about 10 degrees colder than we've experienced in the past 4 months, minus this morning in our own apartment, of course. I do have a jacket that will help, but I think we're going to be taking the concept of layering to a whole new level while we're there. And without the Uggs, I would have been seriously effed.

So, we've learned our lessons.

First of all, just because February is allegedly the worst month, the worst is not necessarily behind us.

Boots...fashionable AND functional. Must remember this and buy some before next winter.

Learn how to turn on the furnace.