Overheard in the newsroom: The "it's very hot outside, very cold inside edition"

"There's no winning - just stand outside and fry to death or stay in here."

It's very hot right now in the UAE: Try some Snow Aerobics at Ski Dubai

I still can't quite believe this is happening at Ski Dubai, but then again, they've got some live penguins over there and it's a ski hill built in the desert, so I'm not sure why I'm having trouble wrapping my head around some chilly workouts.

I've heard this before: when you exercise in the cold, you burn more calories. So hey, at least they are making the most of the place. Register here.  

It's hot. Summer survival guides are a joke. Except in the UAE, now, when you must have one

I have said it before and I'll say it again: August in the UAE is not that different from the depths of a harsh Canadian winter. I am as pale as a cadaver, my clothes are all too tight and all I feel like doing is laying around watching repeat episodes of all those shows that keep up with the Kardashians.

But while I never felt going outside when I lived in Canada's capital of Ottawa, where it gets seriously cold, the bottom line was that I could and if I did, I would be better for it. Much better. Once I realised that if I put on snowpants and braved it through 45 minutes, no matter how biting the wind or driving the snow, sometime in the last 30 seconds or so I would begin to feel more alive than I had ever thought possible. Once home and in my jammies I would feel so cosy, so happy and warm and lucky, that I would fall into the sleep of the dead and wake up the next morning a new, un-Seasonal Affective Disorder-ed woman.