SOAPBOX: Winter, where on earth did you go?

I DON'T know if I can take this much longer.

Cold weather: will it ever visit the Sunshine Coast? Picture: Chris Mccormack

I COUNT myself a winter person.

In winter the surf is cleaner, the crowds smaller.

No sweltering in the heat or sticking to the shadows around midday.

Everyone gets to commiserate together over their frozen fingers and runny noses, blankets are everyone's best friend and every cup of tea is a little warming hug for your insides. And so this winter has been utterly disappointing.

It is now July and the days are still hitting 25 degrees.

You can't even walk around in the early afternoon sun with a jumper.

I could count on one hand the number of nights this year the mercury has dipped below 10 degrees.

I spent almost a month in Canadian snow early this year and managed to skip two Australian heatwaves.

Now the weather seems determined to make it up to me.

I start counting down the days every time the Bureau of Meteorology predicts a cold snap, but the temperature always manages to claw its way back from its rightful place.

I don't know if I can take this much longer.

For our friends in the northern hemisphere it's now summer, yet London temperatures in the last week and in the coming days are still slightly colder than those in Maroochydore.

London, please give back our winter.

The Bureau has forecast an 8 degree chill on Sunday morning.

I live in hope, but begin to suspect a migration may be my only escape.