These last two days the weather has,mostly, hovered around ninety, dropping to the low eighties at night.In other places and at other times it's certain it has been more testing.
I find this scant consolation.
I have poor circulation.I complain and the concerned or irritated touch my forehead or hand.The general response is "good lord".This is neither here nor there really.Its all relative and if you feel hot you feel (expletive) hot.
What to do then?
Well,not much judging by the quietude that's hit round here.Streets and roads are largely silent. To see a solitary figure somewhere in the distance feels like coming across a stranger in the desert.
It's as silent here as if we have been snowed in.
That's probably as well as it takes so much effort to stay civil in this weather.
The Saxophonist and I are convivial and kind with one another because,well,because we just are.Outside of that I seethe inside. The heat makes me critical,illogically so.
Its not dehydration as I'm drinking tea by the pint and what feels like water by the bucketful. No,its the long list of things you want to eat, wear and do which would be disappointing and / or miserable if you tried them now.Frustration, I suppose. I ridicule people in my head.Oh dear...
Last night I sat down with a pile of cookery books. The idea was to rough out weeks worth of light and tempting food.Not too much involving the oven and perhaps a picnic or two.
What I actually did was leaf through the illustrations of about a book and a half in a dilatory fashion.I scribbled down a couple of lacklustre ideas and then has to stop.
Every thing seemed to be "warming,"hearty",rich,sickly or sometimes all four. I snapped the books shut before I felt any more bilious than I already did.
Distractions. Aah distractions:
I am reading some Jonathan Raban at the moment.Another of his watery volumes. He speaks of "smashing your own reflection".He means diving into that reflection.
I sat there quite sometime ,flinging myself from the side of the boat,savouring the shock of the cool water and soaking off the sweat in the waves.
Yesterday I got given a promotional balloon.A bit embarrassing as it bobbed along beside me like an excitable puppy.Once in the car park I simply let go of its string.I thought it would just end up under somebody's car.Instead it went straight up.Caught a thermal and gained momentum.Up and up until it was a tiny yellow dot and then nothing.Gone higher than I could see.There was a release and a relief in that.Illogically,a clarity that felt cold.
I thought, today,what would I tell a child about managing this temporary time of sweat and thirst.I decided I'd tell it about angels.
About how,if its deep snow,you can lay down in an unblemished field or a car park.Lay flat on your back and scissor your arms up and down along the snow.
When you get up the image is left of a full skirted figure with wings.
I've made a snow angel in the sand once - in the Mohave Desert. The sand, of course, was intensely hot and my effort looked more like a sand devil.
ReplyDeleteIt has been intensely hot and humid here in the wild woods of Tennessee. Much like you, I've been drinking copious amounts of iced tea - - and trying to plan light, simple things for meals.
I dreamt it was snowing here the other day. It was quite refreshing.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel the heat, but I do feel the cold. For my wife, Mags, it's the other way around. We're thinking of changing our name to Sprat, by deed poll.
ReplyDeleteWe are now in the early stages of the arrival of what is being called a heat dome. The dome is working its way across the United States, moving in a clockwise circular motion, in which warm air is continually drawn up from the south and distributed to the east north east.
ReplyDeleteSummer in the city can be a time of great crankiness. Tempers can spring into action suddenly. I am endeavoring to stay calm even when staying cool is impossible. My apartment is not air conditioned. Drinking cold water is helpful, as is running some cold water in the bathroom tub and splashing around a bit in my bare feet.