The weather gets rainy, the wind carries a distinct chill, the temperature dips into the upper 60s at night and people in Hawaii don’t just get cold, they get funny.
Around the world, Hawaii is known by the stereotypes of tropical, lazy days and balmy tradewinds at night. There are certainly enough jokes at our expense in that regard. But when it’s not beach-and-blender-drinks weather, no one enjoys the humor in the situation more than the people who live here.
We know we have no call to complain about this recent weather. We know it irritates friends and families toughing it out in truly freezing places. We know the “cold” winter days of hoodies and socks will last maybe a week before we’ll be sweating in the shade again. That’s part of the fun.
All over social media are pictures of the digital readouts of the outside temperature displayed on car dashboards., each one making the same point: Dang! Sixty-eight degrees! Brrr! Cancel work already!
There are posts of corn chowder for lunch. Hot cocoa for breakfast. Queries about where to find the best Portuguese bean soup for dinner. (Answer: my house. Just kidding. I didn’t make enough to share.) Pictures of pets in parkas. Pictures of dad in plaid. People post long soliloquies about sitting at the Hamura’s Saimin counter late at night with the cold winter rain so loud outside the screened windows and the steam coming off the bowl of noodles promising to warm them up clear down to their damp, slippered toes. Saimin is always good, but saimin on a cold, rainy night is on a whole different level.
Out in the stores or at work or in line at the bank, the cold weather is the hot topic. Notice that everyone is so happy to be complaining, so delighted to be competing in that one-upmanship ritual of “my house was SO COLD that …”
The folks in places like Upcountry Maui or Mililani or Kohala are particularly good at this game. They are not surprised by the cold. They speak with a kind of authority that comes from living at that elevation. Any story you tell, they can top, and then nod their heads at your amazement like, “Yeah. That’s how. Some years was way worse. But I can handle.”
The rest of the nontropical world gets months to complain about cold weather, so let us have our turn. The subzero-living cousins can roll their eyes and say we’re being ridiculous and that we don’t know what winter is, but that’s an essential part of the game. We know 60-something degrees isn’t really cold. We’re shivering and griping anyway, making jokes at our own expense, laughing about the long lines at the pho restaurant and baking box-mix brownies just as an excuse to turn on the oven. We earned the right to joke about being cold after a sweltering summer and fall.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
