A Daily Thing

There have been many things to adapt to for me since moving from France to Australia, and this is the beginning of an attempt to explain.

I have horrified a few people here by confessing I don’t wear sunscreen everyday (or at all). In my mind, why would I since I’m not going to the beach? Ah, but because the Australian sun is harsher than the European one I am used to – one of my friends explained by comparing her skin with mine (mine supposedly ‘gorgeous European’ – what?!  I think she meant pasty – hers tanned and freckled and ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’. Tanned and freckled I tell you!  Swap?).

I have had the spectre of old and sun-damaged skin dangled in front of me more times than I can recall by concerned friends in an attempt to scare me straight.
I have conceded by using foundation with an SPF8. Which is still such a bizarre concept to me (not going to the beach, remember!).
And since I don’t go to the beach, I don’t go in the sun (if you saw how vampire-pale I am it would be abundantly clear) I think it’s a safe bet I won’t turn into a sharpei by the time we move back to Europe. I guess if I do, the joke’s on me…

(Image from here, and pretty funny Obama dog options run-down to go with it).