The spring westerlies have roared into life but how fantastic that they held off until after the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony.

The large high that brought the stunning week of weather to the nation is now a distant memory as we hit windy, showery days across New Zealand.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say: “What happened to our lovely spring weather?” Hate to break it to you, but this IS spring weather. Spring is literally a mixture of incoming summer weather and outgoing winter weather … and the two seasons get on about as well as a gossip columnist and MPs at a rugby game.

A few days ago WeatherWatch.co.nz said we could be in for 10 more weeks of this weather. The long-range models certainly indicate no significant settled patch for the next couple of weeks.

But is the windy weather really that terrible? Personally I love it. Reminds me of my days in Wellington. My mother used to always say that windy weather was healthy – “blows the germs away”. Whether there’s any truth in that or not, the wind does feel invigorating … and I love how it waterblasts the rain on to my bedroom windows at night.

“Wind is like everything, okay in moderation” wrote Stuart at WeatherWatch.co.nz. “Yeah I can tell it is spring in Auckland, last couple of weeks I’ve heard chainsaws going non-stop and watching big trees coming down around the neighbourhood … the normal spring cleaning”.

Another reader told us: “That’s what’s great about being a windsurfer; you can enjoy the still, sunny days that everybody else loves but when the wind blows is when you really get a buzz.”

Christine from Wellington told us to try walking along Customhouse Quay in Wellington, or the daily routine to and from the railway station in windy weather “… especially across the intersection on the corner of Whitmore and Featherston Sts (wind-tunnel gully) – forget the umbrella on a wet day (either won’t survive or you could near fly like Mary Poppins). It becomes a tiring and exhausting manoeuvre, not to mention the developing postural slant …”

But whether you love, hate or simply accept the spring winds, there is one thing most of us don’t mind – these are all part of our transition to summer.

Homepage image / File, Windy Wellington / Sam Hall

Philip Duncan writes a weekly column for the Herald on Sunday