Readers would know what Parade means: it’s when someone from Dubbo says it was a bit blowy overnight, and you find out later there was a fearsome storm that almost blew a car off the LH Ford Bridge; or when someone from Cobar says it’s been quite dry this summer, and you find out later the town hasn’t had a drop of rain since mid-November and every resident is now on stage 14 water restrictions.

It’s that sort of understatement.

Parade had a good taste of it on Monday when speaking to a mate from Parkes, where a 35 degree day in high summer is something to be enjoyed for the sense of relief, rather than something to dread.

The weather, of course, came up in conversation and Parade’s mate described Friday in Parkes as a “wee bit hot”.

And what is a wee bit hot in Parkes in January?

“It was 45 degrees with blustery north-northwesterly winds,” Parade’s mate said.

That’s not a wee bit hot, as far as Parade as concerned, that is a precursor to the end of the world.

BUT that’s not to say the hot weather stops people going about their normal business at this time of year.

When Parade lived out in the west many years ago, he was surprised each summer that the local lunatics continued to play cricket on the weekends even through the hottest, nastiest time of the year.

To see two heavily padded-up batsmen running a quick single out in the middle of a bare cricket field on a 44 degree day, while a profusely sweating fast bowler walked back to the end of his very long mark, was to question the sanity of all involved.

Parade is sure those who decided cricket would be a summer sport were not thinking of the inland Australian climate, but rather something much more civilised in the northern hemisphere.

If you do start your cricket career in the state’s west, though, and end up playing grade in coastal Sydney, it must seem like a picnic weather-wise.