Heat Wave

The world turned black and white for a few minutes

The newspapers called it the hottest weekend of the summer.  I would be hard pressed to argue the point.  I don't have air conditioning, so it was a battle to keep the heat at bay.  We do it here by opening the shutters when it gets cool (relatively) and shutting them again to live in the dark in the heat of the day.  It works against normal summer heat, but is only partially effective against la canicule--the heat wave.

Unfortunately my apartment is one of those spaces that holds in the heat.  It was too hot to sleep in the bedroom--it gets extra toasty there, even when there is no heat wave.  Coming out into the bigger, airier living room and sleeping on the couch worked pretty well, except for Monday night.  The humidity built and built.  I felt like I was back in the house of my mid-Atlantic childhood.  Even two fans didn't do much against the swelter.

Tuesday the heat wave was scheduled to break, and so it did, but not before I experienced the most uncomfortable day since leaving Maryland two decades ago.  It's not usually so humid here, but at nearly 60% yesterday, it definitely qualified as a HHH day. (Hazy/hot/humid) There were occasional winds that helped, but it was like being back in Baltimore. 

Relief is in those clouds

Late in the afternoon, I decided that a stroll outside would be cooler than my place, so I meandered down to Bar Felix and had a pastis---after one of those I and my numbed lips didn't care that a storm was approaching!  For lovers of anise flavored anything, I recommend this drink so beloved by the south of France, but--with plenty of water to start.  Otherwise, your lips will go numb too!

Note the neighbor's light. 

I got a little buzz, but not so much that I didn't notice the platane tree leaves are dry and rattling and beginning to show up fallen onto the streets. Whether due to the heat wave or to the normal summer cycle, it was a hint that cooler temperatures are not too far away on the horizon.  Once we get through the canicule.... 

The expected storm rolled in as scheduled, with not a lot of rain, at least on my street, but with plenty of thunder and lightning.  For several minutes, the world was black and white--what a very odd sensation.  The storm brought blessed relief from a string of nearly three weeks of nights too hot to sleep.  But last night--I even got under the covers at some point.  Ahhhh

From my living room window