As you may or may not have noticed it's been
awhile since I've been on the blog. It's been a hell of
a summer and not in a good way. The Dublin/London vacation
was terrific but before and after, not so much. There've
been several personal things going on behind the scenes
that have made life trying, and a couple of less personal
things that have thrown my schedule entirely out of whack.
One of the main issues is that we've been without working
air conditioning for over three weeks at this point. If
we had a house we'd no doubt be spending most of our time
hanging out in the basement where it'd be cooler but since
we live in an apartment that soaks up the sun like a sponge
there's not much coolness to be found!
Did you know that even turning on lights and running fans sends the temperature up a degree or two? As a result we've been doing a lot of flapping around in the dark like bats, which isn't actually as entertaining as the new Batman movie (I know this because I went to see it yesterday and loved it), but I digress.
Did you know that even turning on lights and running fans sends the temperature up a degree or two? As a result we've been doing a lot of flapping around in the dark like bats, which isn't actually as entertaining as the new Batman movie (I know this because I went to see it yesterday and loved it), but I digress.
Seventeen short months ago, in February 2011,
our old heat pump/AC unit bit the dust and was replaced
so to be dealing with a complete breakdown so soon again
is no fun. In fact, the lack of air conditioning in a July
heatwave is significantly less fun than the lack
of heating in February because, like I said, this place
sucks in and retains warmth like nobody's business. I mean,
if holding on to heat were an Olympic sport my apartment
would be in the running for a gold medal.
We now have a portable unit cooling the bedroom
but the rest of the place gets pretty darn sweaty by early
afternoon and cooking is a thing of the past. First thing
every morning and last thing every night, when the outside
air is finally fresher, we try to cool the apartment down
as much as possible because God knows how roasting it would
get in here otherwise. We've also been spending as much
time out of the apartment as possible—at the movies,
the mall, the library, my parents' respective houses etc.
Needless to say I'm not getting a heck of a lot done and
I still don't know when the heat pump/AC unit will
be fixed. The company that handles the manufacturer's warranty
have hauled it off to the shop to get to the heart of the
problem and in the meantime it's continually degrees of
toasty and ick.
Now, how one picks up a cold (or whatever
exactly it is that I have) in the middle of such a warm
July, I don't know, but I've somehow managed to accomplish
it. For almost two weeks I've been slinking around my icky
hot apartment (plus the mall, the movies, etc.) with tissues
and lozenges, coughing and sneezing miserably.
While it's too late to make a long story
short I will say that this summer has been rotten.
So personally, I would like to be granted a do-over for
the season. Or, to wake up tomorrow and for it to be September
1st. I don't know who I have to apply to in order to accomplish
this but if you have the name of someone who can swing it,
please forward me their contact details ASAP.
Yours in sickness and humidity,
C.K.
