yes I know it's Time-Out Tuesday so I'm not really here....
Here's an example of stuff I wrote back in September 2010
Conundrum
I like warm things.
Hot chocolate.
Hot coffee.
Hot showers.
Heat from the heater in winter.
Snuggling under the doona.
Early spring days when the sun begins to warm these old bones.
When I sit outside in the old lawn chair, soaking it up.
Late autumn, ditto.
Hats, jackets, scarves, fluffy bedsocks, hot water bottles.
Hot apple pie.
You'd think then, that with all this loving of warmth, I'd be looking forward to summer.
Hot days. Searing hot days.
Hot buildings, hot roadways, (blisteringly hot if you like to walk barefoot....not a good idea), even the air is hot.
I should be happy, right?
Not so.
It's an entirely different sort of heat. Unrelenting. Never ending. All of those words that mean eternal. Ceaseless. Constant. Perpetual. (Let's not mention the glare, the headache inducing glare).
Heat not of my own choosing.
And this last one, I suppose, is the problem.
In the other seasons, I can choose my heat level.I can adjust the heater.
I can add or subtract layers of clothing to be comfortable.
In the summer, none of this is possible.
Except for the airconditioner that I now have, (which only heats or cools one room), regulating of my personal heat level is near impossible.
Icy cold drink? Cools you down, yes, but not for long.
Cool showers? Same.
Kick the doona off the bed? Makes no difference. The mattress is warm from my body. Hmpf!
Here's where a frozen hot water bottle helps.
As for subtracting layers of clothing.....well, there's only so many layers one can remove and still remain decently covered.
When the air itself remains hot for weeks at a time, months even, comfort is hard to achieve.
Clearly I can't simply stay in my living room for the next 3-4 months.
There's work to go to, (thankfully the store is airconditioned), people to visit, shopping trips, often on buses with no aircon, (or buses that are so icily cold I'm wishing for a blanket), one way or another, I must be out and about.
So I'm very grateful right now, to whichever gods are responsible, for the cooler, sometimes rainy days we are getting, as we ease into the summer.
Each hot day so far has been bearable because I knew a cooler day was on the horizon.
I'm hoping the weather continues this way for quite some time.
Maybe until next winter?
Conundrum
I like warm things.
Hot chocolate.
Hot coffee.
Hot showers.
Heat from the heater in winter.
Snuggling under the doona.
Early spring days when the sun begins to warm these old bones.
When I sit outside in the old lawn chair, soaking it up.
Late autumn, ditto.
Hats, jackets, scarves, fluffy bedsocks, hot water bottles.
Hot apple pie.
You'd think then, that with all this loving of warmth, I'd be looking forward to summer.
Hot days. Searing hot days.
Hot buildings, hot roadways, (blisteringly hot if you like to walk barefoot....not a good idea), even the air is hot.
I should be happy, right?
Not so.
It's an entirely different sort of heat. Unrelenting. Never ending. All of those words that mean eternal. Ceaseless. Constant. Perpetual. (Let's not mention the glare, the headache inducing glare).
Heat not of my own choosing.
And this last one, I suppose, is the problem.
In the other seasons, I can choose my heat level.I can adjust the heater.
I can add or subtract layers of clothing to be comfortable.
In the summer, none of this is possible.
Except for the airconditioner that I now have, (which only heats or cools one room), regulating of my personal heat level is near impossible.
Icy cold drink? Cools you down, yes, but not for long.
Cool showers? Same.
Kick the doona off the bed? Makes no difference. The mattress is warm from my body. Hmpf!
Here's where a frozen hot water bottle helps.
As for subtracting layers of clothing.....well, there's only so many layers one can remove and still remain decently covered.
When the air itself remains hot for weeks at a time, months even, comfort is hard to achieve.
Clearly I can't simply stay in my living room for the next 3-4 months.
There's work to go to, (thankfully the store is airconditioned), people to visit, shopping trips, often on buses with no aircon, (or buses that are so icily cold I'm wishing for a blanket), one way or another, I must be out and about.
So I'm very grateful right now, to whichever gods are responsible, for the cooler, sometimes rainy days we are getting, as we ease into the summer.
Each hot day so far has been bearable because I knew a cooler day was on the horizon.
I'm hoping the weather continues this way for quite some time.
Maybe until next winter?
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Are you sure River, you're not writing this on my behalf, from the hot tropics of northern Queensland. LOL you've just saved me from penning it! We too are having this very rare reprieve from the incessant heat that has in fact already arrived to only build and worsen as the days slip by.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, give me winter and autumn.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the heat so much but the damp clinging humidity is just too much.
ReplyDeleteMerle.................
I'm unable to comment because I can't see you...it's Tuesday!! :)
ReplyDeleteI prefer autumn and winter these days, too....I love the warmer-type clothes.
It is why cooler climates are called temperate climates, and in less temperate climates one can easily lose ones temper or ones cool when it isn't cool, simple really !!
ReplyDeleteRose~from OZ; I wrote this four years ago, but things haven't changed have they? Today is a stinker here in Adelaide 37C and I spent a fair bit of time outside.
ReplyDeleteSuzie; welcome to drifting. Early and middle spring I don't mind, but late spring here gets too hot already for my liking. Autumn is wonderful once the nights cool down.
Merle; Humidity is the worst! But I can't take even dry heat these days, I get a vicious headache when I'm too hot for too long.
Lee; yes, I'm not here...ha ha. I prefer mid autumn to winter, sunny days with cool breezes and nights cold enough to snuggle under the doona. Frosty weather I can do without.
Vest; thank you. Have to say my cool is seriously lost today (37C), I may have to send out a search party.
I've heard how ridiculously hot Australian summers are, and you have my sympathies. Minnesota has extreme temps as well, and we are swinging into the ol' Nature-is-trying-to-kill-me phase, which, if the Farmer's Almanac can be trusted -- and dang it, it can be -- will be a snowier version of last year! Last year, when the temperature plummeted well beneath zero for over a month!
ReplyDeleteYou think of me, I'll think of you, and somewhere between us will be a happy woman...
Pearl
Pearl; let's hope this happy woman is in a place where temperatures are consistent, with sunny warm days and cool rainy nights. With no mosquitoes. I feel sorry for you having to go through a worse winter than last year, but I'm also glad I don't live there.
ReplyDelete