Living Through Winter

It's hard being a naturist in winter. Personally, I still can't complain too much. Yes, right now, I'm looking out at a dreary gray mass of clouds and I have to wear clothes or I'll endanger my health. Still, weather is a variable thing. Just days ago, temperatures were around 26 degrees Celsius and there was sunshine, perfect weather for naturism if only the environment - read the other people - allowed it.
But in these winter times, I have to think of naturists who are far worse off than me. Europe's been hit by one of the coldest spells in recent memory, with frost continuing for two weeks on end, day and night. That's the kind of weather that any person, naturist or textile, would want to leave behind for good.
Yet, even in the coldest of times, there is still hope. A naturist can think of better things. Australia for example. A rare look at the CNN weather report told me that Melbourne had 32 degrees, Cairns 30 degrees, Darwin 33 degrees, Perth 34 degrees, and Alice Springs a scary and unnecessary 39 degrees. But then, that's why people in Australia call that summer.
Another way to survive winter is to pretend it doesn't exist. Like those brave people who go out swimming in mass events on the Atlantic coast of the US and Canada, or on the North Sea coast in Europe. Or people who take pictures of themselves in the snow wearing swimming suits or absolutely nothing. The former are known as Frosters, the latter as Naked Snow People, and guess which group got booted off Facebook?
Finally, if like me, you are not brave enough to venture into the snow or the icecold water, and you don't live anywhere near Australia, all you can do is dream and look forward toward the summer in your place of the world.
The people at the Italian naturist group Fenait helped me do that by sending me another edition of their magazine Info Naturista. One way to spend part of the naturist winter is to visit travel fairs which have a naturist presence, such as the January 10-15 fair in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
Staying with the magazine, it reports on an international naturist swimming competition held in Prague, the clash between naturism and neoconformism, a review of an Italian book about nudity in art, the social aspect of naturism and naturist associations, and the latest news from Italy's regional naturist associations. I live a long way from Italy, but I visited Sicily in 2006. While as we said before, naturism in Italy is still weaker than in other Western European countries, it is growing and deserves our support and attention.
With wishes of courage for all naturists to make it through this winter, I leave this blog now to make it back to the warm comfort of Twitter at http://twitter.com/thenudeguru. See you there.

A Summer in the Nude?

Summer is almost here, at least for us people in the northern half of the world. North America, Europe and Asia are still up to a point suffering from the leftovers of winter, but the most popular season for naturist activities is almost here.
It is ironic that I will be traveling from naturist-unfriendly Asia to the home of free beaches and naturist resorts, Europe, but that all summer I might not have the opportunity of practicing naturism at all, for family reasons.
Apart from the classic weekend treks to the nearest free beach or the two-week stays at full-blown resorts on or close to the Mediterranean, there are also other occasions to get naked.
In late May, a theater in Utrecht is staging a special performance of its naturist play Viva la Naturisteracion - the actors are always naked in that one, but on May 29, the audience can also go nude.
June will mark the next World Naked Bike Rides, in world towns that missed the earlier round predominant in the Southern Hemisphere, including countries like Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.
Spencer Tunick will also resume his activities, with one of his typical mass nude photo shoots at the castle of Gaasbeek in Belgium in early July.
While I will be unable to attend any of these events, I will be looking out for them in the media and reporting on them, maybe here, but at least on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thenudeguru.
Enjoy your naked summer!

Naturist Expo in the Netherlands

Taiwan has lots of exhibitions and fairs, for cars, for furniture, for computers and other electronics, and for travel. But the travel fairs will never feature or even mention the topic of naturism. What a contrast with Europe, where fairs in say, Belgium, or even Italy, a less naturism-friendly country, will have at least one naturist association supporting the cause.
Well, in the Netherlands, over the past three days, they even had a complete fair featuring nothing else but naturism and non-sexual nude leisure activities. The fair 'Naturisme Totaal' took place in the city of Utrecht, not in a small location hidden from view, but at the main exhibition hall in town.
According to media reports, 8,300 people visited the fair, which had a total of 140 stands. Of course you had the naturist associations and the naturist holiday resorts, but also health and spa clinics and saunas.
The Dutch naturist association says that out of the country's 16 million or so inhabitants, more than 2 million practice naturism in one form or another. That can go from just sunbathing naked in one's garden to actively participating in nude cruises, hikes, sport activities.
In other words, Asia still has a long way to go. If you want to know more about what a naturist fair is all about, visit their web site at www.naturismetotaal.nl, which also has pdf texts in English.