The Rosie and Roula Show

102: Can The Weather Control Our Life and Change Who We are?

• Roula Abou Haidar and Rosie Burrows

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Hot or Cold? How Weather Shapes Who We Are 

Can the weather change your mood, your lifestyle, your memories—even your identity? 

In this episode, Rosie and Roula go deep into a surprisingly emotional topic: the weather. From Lebanon to the Netherlands, Queensland to Darwin, they share how climate, seasons, and sunlight affect everything—from what we wear to how we feel about ourselves. 

You’ll hear laughter, nostalgia, and some passionate weather-based preferences (spoiler: we’ve got two spring girls here). 

This episode explores: 

  • The emotional toll of six months without sunshine 
  • Why Rosie’s idea of “spring” could melt a Dutch person 
  • Roula’s summer nostalgia for the Lebanese mountains 
  • How weather guilt is a real thing (especially in gray skies) 
  • And the shared dream of owning homes in the sun and the mountains 

If you've ever complained about the heat, longed for light, or just had a strong opinion about rain—this one’s for you. 

 

Takeaways 

  • I like spring weather.  
  • I love life here and I've just gotten over the weather.  
  • Spring here is so beautiful.  
  • I would be with cold weather more outside than with hot weather.  
  • I still feel the summer air in Lebanon.  
  • A lot of people suffer from winter depression.  
  • I try to keep it sunny in my head.  
  • We're both spring ladies.  
  • I feel so guilty not going outside.  
  • I think my version of spring is probably quite different. 


Keywords 

weather, preferences, spring, nostalgia, mental health, seasons, Australia, Netherlands, emotional impact, nature 

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Rosie (00:01)
Roula

Roula (00:04)
Hi Rosie! We're still wearing the same clothes, it's the same day, we're recording five episodes every week. Here we are!

Rosie (00:10)
So exciting.

This is a topic I don't know how we've never spoken about it on the podcast. I think we've spoken about it off the podcast, but I actually don't know your answer to this. So in case it wasn't clear to the audience, I live in Australia, Roula lives in the Netherlands. The weather's quite different. Quite, quite different.

And I want to know whether, weather, I just called you weather, your name's Roula I want to know Roula whether you prefer hot or cold weather.

Summer or winter.

Roula (01:03)
Okay, because I lived in Lebanon and I experienced also very hot weather, I think I'm in a place to say something. I like spring weather. I don't like too hot and I don't like too cold. When it's too cold, it's exhausting to wear all these clothes and it gives me headache. My joints are cold.

Rosie (01:08)
Mmm.

Okay, all right, yes, you're well informed.

Mmm.

Roula (01:31)
When

it's too hot, my hair is ruined constantly because it's so sweaty and it's so hot you can't walk and...

I do. And I feel in very hot weather, I live more inside than outside because where the airco is.

Rosie (01:47)
Wow. I would have thought the opposite. Wow.

Roula (01:51)
I would be with cold weather more outside than with hot weather. Well, when I was younger, hot weather was perfect because I would be soaking myself under the sun all the time. The older I got and that it changes. The bottom line is that spring weather is perfect for me. Few days a little bit warm, a few days cold. This is I like the rain to take a break and I like the sunshine to go out. The problem in the Netherlands

Rosie (01:54)
Wow.

Hmm.

Yes!

Roula (02:21)
we can have six months with no sunshine, cloudy and rain. And that is tough.

Rosie (02:24)
What? What?

Yeah.

Roula (02:30)
We can have summer six weeks only rain. That's also not cool.

Rosie (02:35)
Wow. Why are you living there again? That sounds terrible.

Roula (02:40)
I love life here and I've just gotten over the weather.

Rosie (02:45)
Wow. Well, I agree with you that spring is the best time of year. However, I think my version of spring and your version of spring is probably quite different. So what temperatures are we talking about in your spring?

Roula (02:55)
Yeah.

16 17 between 16 and 19 this is spring

Rosie (03:03)
⁓ nice. For me it's more, more low to mid-twenties.

Roula (03:05)
Yours.

⁓ What? I'm shocked! This is spring?

Rosie (03:13)
Yeah. I mean, it depends where in Australia you're living, but yes, that to me is the perfect temperature. So good. So good. But when I lived in England, spring was beautiful. Like the seasons here aren't as pronounced. Whereas in England, you know, it's, it's very cold and the skies are very gray and the days are very short in winter. And then spring comes, the days start getting longer. The flowers start coming out.

Roula (03:22)
Wow.

Rosie (03:42)
⁓ the whole mood of everyone around you just starts lifting and it's, it's a beautiful time of year. I love it. I really do.

Roula (03:51)
Rosie, spring here is so beautiful. It makes me want to cry. Not only we have this huge tulips fields that tourists ruin, this huge tulip fields like you're driving on the highway and deep red, deep pink, deep yellow as far as you can see. Amazing. And the other nature is

Rosie (03:57)
Wow.

Wow.

Roula (04:20)
everywhere you have these daffodils and all kind of flowers, the coquelicots, the red ones, pevet, pevet, pevet, I don't know what, I know the name in French, coquelicots. Anyway, and not only this, you have all these sheep and their babies and the cows and their babies and in front of my house, for example, I have swans and their babies.

Rosie (04:29)
I don't know.

⁓

Roula (04:49)
⁓ ducks and their babies. It's wherever you go nature is calling you. So spring here. my goodness such an amazing time to be outside and walk and and go around. I don't know how it is for you in Australia because if it's too hot when do you see all the stuff?

Rosie (04:52)
while.

Well, it's hard. Everyone thinks Australia's really hot all the time. There are places in Australia where it snows. It does get cold here. But I grew up in the state of Queensland. It's called the Sunshine State for a reason. It is sunny for the majority of the year.

And parts of Queensland can get cold, where I came from in the South East. No, not really. Like a cold, gets, I don't know, I'm gonna get told off by people who live there now, but I don't know, 16 degrees is freezing, you know, in that part of Australia. ⁓ it's so cold. And it can get down under 10 sometimes. Not all day though.

Maybe in the morning or at night. Not during the day. It's very different.

Roula (06:04)
Yes.

And where are you now?

Rosie (06:07)
I'm in Darwin. this, is not a summer, autumn, winter, spring here. There's six months of wet season and there's six months of dry season. We're coming into dry season. So as you can imagine, dry season is there's not much rain, but it's less hot and less humid. Whereas wet season, lots of rain, lots of storms, very high humidity, like mid to high nineties.

Roula (06:09)
Okay.

What season is it now?

Rosie (06:35)
regularly 37 38 degrees. That's what I've been living in now. Much less humid, maybe 70 % humidity and

At nighttime, it's 30, 31 degrees and I'm like, this is beautiful. But me last year, six months ago, I would have been going, my God, I'm so hot. But here 30, 31 degrees is cool. And then during the day it's regularly 35.

Roula (07:04)
Is there a wind? Or is it... dry?

Rosie (07:07)
There is often

a wind which helps when there's not a wind. That's unpleasant. Yeah. So there's no spring in this part of Australia. Yeah.

Roula (07:12)
tough.

So hot.

You know Rosie when it's summer here, this is after 24 years. It's much less but after 24 years living in the Netherlands, but 25 actually The thing is when it's summer here. I get this nostalgic feeling for Lebanon not in winter in summer because

Rosie (07:32)
Wow.

Really?

Roula (07:44)
I still feel the summer air in Lebanon, the mountains. We don't have mountains here. And I love mountains. I feel the air of the mountains, the fog, going to the beach, the blue sea. Here, the beach is so dark and gray and cold, even in summer.

Rosie (08:06)
Mmm.

Roula (08:09)
lovely beaches, the dunes are magical, but the beach itself, the sea, it's very gray. The sand is dark, so that's why it's gray. And I cannot let go of my nostalgic feeling for the Mediterranean sea that is in Lebanon when I'm here. So do you have sea close to you?

Rosie (08:26)
Yeah... Yeah...

Yeah, yeah, yes. ⁓ Yeah, basically Darwin is on the coast. yeah, absolutely. There's a beautiful spot. ⁓ It's called Fanny Bay. Beautiful to watch the sunset there or East Point. I've always lived near the ocean actually. Not necessarily walking distance, but a short drive to be able to get to the water.

Roula (08:55)
Yeah. Yes.

Amazing. I love that. I don't know. I used to think I don't want the house close to the ocean. I want one in the mountains and now I want to one close to the which I'm not getting any.

Rosie (08:59)
Hmm.

Both are beautiful. Maybe you get one,

I'll get the other and we can share.

Roula (09:16)
In which country?

Rosie (09:18)
One in each? I've got to compromise somehow. Not in the Netherlands. Ooh.

Roula (09:20)
Not in the Netherlands. We don't

have one. OK, one in Lebanon and one in Australia. Australia at the coast and Lebanon in the mountains.

Rosie (09:26)
Deal. I've never been to Lebanon. Okay.

Sounds good.

Roula (09:33)
Yeah, no matter what weather it is, if it's sunny here, I feel so guilty not going outside and walk every day that it's sunny in the Netherlands and I don't go outside for a walk. I feel I missed out on a day in my life because it. Yeah, it is because we have a lot of dark days. Yes.

Rosie (09:39)
Mmm.

Wow, that's dramatic.

Wow. I don't know how you cope with that. I find the dark days, they get me down. They affect my mood in a really big way.

Roula (10:04)
A lot of people suffer from winter depression, seriously. I try to keep it sunny in my head and avoid talking about the weather. Everybody here talks about the weather. ⁓ Yes, the social contacts are very discouraging because they start about the weather and I check out. Yeah.

Rosie (10:06)
Mmm. Mmm.

yeah, it's a thing, isn't it? And here I am making an episode about the weather.

Yeah. Yeah.

Stuff the weather.

Roula (10:34)
So, I don't want to talk about the weather anymore. Yeah!

Rosie (10:34)
Well, we're both spring ladies. We're spring ladies. We love it. Yeah. Awesome.

My spring's a little bit warmer than yours, but I think, I think we would both enjoy each other's spring.

Roula (10:47)
Yes, I hope someday we will experience it.

Rosie (10:50)
Yes, definitely. But let us know, do you prefer hot or cold weather?

Roula (10:55)
Where do you live? What do you like about the weather where you live? Let us know. This is better question. Okay, Rosie. Thank you. Bye.

Rosie (10:57)
⁓ yes. Let us know. Fine. Bye.

Mm-hmm.