As I sit out on our porch soaking up the coolness of the grapevine and other greenery while I eat my toast and bacon breakfast a memory comes to mind from my trip to Ireland way back when. A local there commented about how hot it was, all the way up to 21°C. I just nodded in agreement resisting the urge to comment that 21° was the temperature I had the automatic climate control set to in my car all year round back in Australia.
The comment would probably not have made him feel any cooler, rather he may have felt devalued, reduced in some way. One of the few times when silent restraint was my choice and well advised it was too.
Back to the coolness out here on our shaded porch while the sun rises on the other side of the house. We are bracing ourselves for another scorching day, the third or fourth in the current heatwave, with a forecasted top temperature of 40°C so this little respite is welcome. It is on days like this that I am grateful that we made the decision to install solar panels on the house when we moved in four years ago. We can turn on the air conditioning when the temperature starts to climb without any concern for the power costs of such a move and hunker down in the resulting cool house while the heat “storm” rages outside.
A cool change is forecast for overnight however with the highest temperature forecast for tomorrow of only 24°. That isn’t much over what my Irish connection thought was a heatwave. So there is an end in sight and really all that is required is a little perspective adjustment to just get through it.
Staces Place 