Arctic versus Dubai

My husband is a tad surprised about my Arctic assignment but comes round to the idea when he knows a) my big brother will be there to protect me and b) that I can sort childcare out. The first week the children will be at school and the second week is the beginning of the Easter holidays. Within 48 hours he has booked a 5 star holiday for him and the kids to Dubai where he has some business interests. Joe is so excited he packs his bag immediately. I decide it’s time to tell Lara that while she is in sunny Dubai I will be in the Arctic. She has watched a children’s programme called ‘Arctic Diaries’ and her reaction is cool. Very cool. Later, I ask if she is okay, wondering whether she’ll say she might miss me.
Lara has strawberry blonde hair and pale skin. “I’m worried I’ll get too hot in Dubai and you’ll be too cold in the Arctic. Your fingers go yellow when we go out in Kingston. What will happen to them when you’re in the Arctic?”
Lara is a bright child. I try to reassure her. Later that evening I check out the temperatures of our respective destinations:

Dubai: 30 degrees plus
Baffin Island: minus 30

I was going to wait until nearer the time to tell Joe but, somehow, the news gets out. I try to excite him by showing him a picture of a polar bear.
“Will it be very cold Mummy?” he asks.
“Yes, but I’ll be wrapped up warm.”
“Are you going to die?” he asks, puppy dog eyes looking up at me.