Illustration by CELSO QUIJANO JR.

Several times I have had the experience of travelling across the world from England in the winter to Singapore in the perpetual summer. Of course there are many contrasts between the two places, but the big surprise is about temperature. As you travel East, the outside temperature increases from zero degrees to thirty degrees—an amazing change. But even more amazingly, as you travel from heated England to airconditioned Singapore, the INSIDE temperature actually goes down. Singapore in summer is cooler than England in winter!

In England, we like sitting with our central heating on high, wearing only tee-shirts, looking out at the snow and feeling very cozy. We enjoy a breath of cold air when we go outdoors, but we don’t stay out there very long! In Singapore, it’s a nightmare for glasses wearers like me. As you go from an air-conditioned car to a warm street to a hotel lobby or similar you can guarantee that your glasses will steam up so you can’t see a thing! I’ve even been accused of ignoring friends when in reality I couldn’t see them.

Then, when you have wiped glasses you are in for a surprise in a tropical country. Everyone is wearing a shawl or a sweater to keep out the cold. I was surprised to hear from our company that jackets were a popular give-away at team building sessions.

I asked a Singaporean friend about this. He said ‘You foreigners don’t understand. In Singapore we want to show that we have conquered nature and are no longer victims of the environment. Being too cold is a small price to pay for that satisfaction.’ ‘Well,’ I replied, ‘I guess we are not so different after all. I think that’s exactly the same reason we English want to be warm in the winter.’

Isn’t it an odd world that we live in?