BATHURST’S start to summer this year has been almost autumnal when it comes to the weather, but you won’t find Parade complaining.
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Yes, it feels a bit strange when the city is struggling to get past 20 degrees in the first few days of December.
Yes, it’s a bit odd to linger out the front of the wardrobe at home and wonder whether it’s worth taking a jumper to work when we’ve left both winter and spring behind.
And, yes, the sun has been a bit absent during these stormy, overcast days and that can get you down after a while.
But Parade hasn’t forgotten about that scorching summer Bathurstians sweated their way through last year and how it tested nerves, patience and gardens from one end of the city to the other.
Parade remembers the disappointment as he checked the updated seven-day forecast each evening last January and saw the plus-35 degree maximums stretching off as far as the eye could see.
The bushfire danger seemed to hang perpetually in the air, the lawn required constant watering just to keep it alive and Parade could suffer sunburn just walking to the clothesline and back last summer.
Yes, Parade remembers all that.
And that’s why he hasn’t got a bad thing to say about this wet, cool, unusual summer so far.
You could earn back then, too
THE NSW Government’s Return and Earn scheme (where you can receive 10 cents for eligible empty drink containers) has brought back memories for Parade.
As a youngster living in the state’s west, Parade and his brother would often earn a bit of extra money by collecting empty cans and stubbies and taking them to a recycling centre in a hessian bag.
The big pay day was always after the town’s race meeting, when the raceground would be awash with aluminium and glass just waiting to be collected and swapped for cash.
Perhaps that’s why Parade never grew up to be a punter: he learnt early on that the real money at the races was nowhere near the bookies’ enclosure.