As well as being 3 months out of the UK and a distance of 5,264 miles away, I now feel a distinct separation from the motherland.

Everyday I read the UK newspapers online, at least the front pages of the Guardian and Independent to keep in touch with national news and occasionally the Portsmouth News to see if anything has happened in the Fareham area… it hasn’t yet.

It’s great to feel no impact from the recession and spending cuts, or to have to hear about the coalition government, the royal pregnancy, Jimmy Savile and Christmas adverts. And even better to miss the plummeting temperatures and bad weather. Today was a sunny 28C. It is now 6pm and the temperature had fallen to 24C.

I expect you’ll be saying to yourselves… he’ll soon change his tune next summer when the thermometer hits the high 40s or even 50c. You will have to wait until June or July to see how I cope, but for now a warm sunny winter makes me feel much happier and healthier.