The week before Christmas

It's been a strange summer in Shepparton, hardly a day over 30 C so far, when normally we would have already hit the 40 C mark more than once alrealy, and the wind had been blowing alot making the past month seem more like a South Island summer than a northern Victorian one. There has been rain at least once a week, also very unusual for this time of year, it's great for the apples and pears but has caused big problems with cherries and early apricots, rain at harvest time causes the fruit to split, the cherries become unsaleable and the apricots only good for jam.