Last year, I met a guy who, upon finding out where I was from said, “UGH, Canberra is the absolute worst.* It’s hot in summer and cold in winter”. Instead of dwelling on his strange idea of what exactly the weather is supposed to be like in different seasons (because last time I checked, it’s actually quite acceptable that summer = hot and winter = cold), I’d like to focus on the last part of his statement, because he was quite right: Canberra is pretty cold in winter.

I guess different people have different definitions of “cold”, so if you’re new to the city, and think that anything lower than 20° is “cold”, I’m telling you right now that you’re in for a bit of a shock. But luckily for you – even though my name is not Kevin – I’m here to help. Having experienced a number of Canberra winters, I’ve got a few tips that you’ll hopefully find useful.

1. Socks

The other day, I made the second most game-changing purchase of my life (second only to the cinnamon doughnuts from Breadtop). Enter: Target socks. AKA: the best socks for winter you could possibly imagine, and also the best $7 I’ve ever spent (it was a pack of two by the way, so really it was $3.50 per pair, making it $1.50 per sock. As an English major I’m pretty impressed by my mathematics skills/ not even sorry if those figures are completely incorrect). If you want to avoid your toes looking like the fingers of that girl who fell asleep outside during the Canadian winter, you need these socks. Alright, alright, so it doesn’t get quite that cold in Canberra, but still, you should definitely run-not-walk to your nearest Target for a pair of these.

2. Tissues

Everybody hates a sniffer (and yet? So. Many. Sniffers.), so you don’t want to be that person. I think it should be a world-wide policy that every man, woman and child have a packet of tissues on hand at all times, especially during the winter. So do yourself, and everyone around you, a favour and spend the $2 on a packet of Kleenex so you’re never unprepared for the inevitable winter nose-running.

3. Beating the S.A.D.

Colds and flus are not the only thing that give winter a bad rap. The weather getting colder and the days getting darker can often affect people’s moods more than they would think. Sometimes what helps is a change of perspective. For example, my life motto is “I like to party and by party I mean take naps”, but during the summer, I always feel bad for not heading out “on the town”, as my mum likes to say. With winter approaching, I can now just use the excuse that it’s much too cold to go out, and can completely avoid shivering outside Uni Pub, silently cursing past-me for convincing present-me that of course she would absolutely 100% have a fantastic time.

PSA: If you need me at any point in the next six months, I’ll most likely be cocooned in a fluffy blanket drinking a rather large cup of tea.

*By the way, I later found out he was from Harden (10 points to Gryffindor if you can tell me where that is without Googling it), so I really don’t think he was in any sort of position to be so judgemental.