It’s so easy to mistake discomfort from 28-degree heat as being an unsettling feeling about the world in general. But this is just me. New Zealand summer is unwaveringly clear, the sky a flat expanse of blue. It’s so harsh that a couple of years back, I noticed that half my face was darker than the other; the result of an entire summer walking home from the bus stop, the sun shining to my right. The saying goes that there’s a big hole in the ozone just above New Zealand. Higher rates of cancer, they say, but I’m more philosophical. You get to see things a bit clearer than most people.

I used to hate summer. I’m that person who revels in the gloomy, moody greys of a rainstorm or a drizzly winter’s day. But things change, and people change. Go out into the light and do something. Get out of your head.

You’re actually fortunate that you live in a country where undiluted common decency prevails.