Who likes summer? I’m sitting here at my computer, vainly hoping for a breeze to come up the street from the Brisbane river to cool things off, and praying for a storm. I can kinda deal with maximum temperatures of 34 degrees, but I strongly object to minima of 25 degrees! The two redeeming features of this horrendously sticky and still heat are that you get to strike up conversations about THE WEATHER with everyone you meet at the bus stop, on the streets and in the shops and secondly that no one’s going to yell at you at midnight if you go skinnydipping in your apartment building’s pool.
But you can also see both why Brisvegas peeps are rather sociable, and why we’re renowned for being a bit mad. Touched by the sun, as they say…
Here’s a summer poem for everyone:
I see the sunstruck forest,
In green it stands complete.
There soon we all are going,
The summertime to meet
I’m told it’s by Schiller, but I’ve not been able to identify the source. It also seems like it might be by Holderlin. The original is in a low German dialect.
I’m sorry if this post is self indulgent. Mad thoughts strike you in the Brissie summer heat. And mad deeds – in the spirit of no barriers between the skin and whatever breeze can be seized, I’ve just eliminated all bodily hair except on my head.
Shame about the Brazilianism but leaving depilation aside, I know how you feel. I wanted to write something about something this evening but it’s JUST TOO HOT!!!!!!!
I put a three litre bottle of water in the fridge hours ago and I’m about to pore it over myself at the end of a typical Queensland ‘cold’ (not) shower.
The header is very Carry On Blogging.
Sid James says:
*You’re right about that love, ahhh-ah-ahh;)*
Ha! Thanks, C.L. Despite my excessive depilation madness and crazed fascination with German romantic poets, I have taken the precaution of alternating gin, lime and tonic with pure iced water
The weather is horrendous.
Kimberella, I suggest a post along the lines of Nietzsche’s essay “Why I am such a good writer”… or whatever he called it
Hard to remember in this stinky heat!
I envy your 25C, it snowed in Virginia yesterday. Poor old matilda has been snowed and iced on more times than is dignified
And to think, only two weeks ago I was wading ankle deep in the tepid waters of Noosa, under a brilliant Aussie sun.
:/
You should be so lucky, we had 100% humidity 3 days ago here in Hawaii.
Can’t take a bit of heat eh? You lefties make me laugh. Why back in the day it was regulary 45 degrees. You’d see the businessman, in wool suits and tie taking it all in their stride acting like it was a pleasant 25 degrees. Of course, we lost a lot of time and money to so called workers who seemed to think that they could get a drink of water or take a break from the heat.
And people wonder what is wrong with this country.
The heat is not the problem, it was the massive accumulation of hot air that we were expecting that had us worried, fortunately Donald Rumsfeld by passed us on the way back from Australia.
Well yesterday it had cooled down to 22C by 10:30pm down from 40C midday in good ‘ol sydney town.
Shaun, wake up. Nobody can stand the heat. That’s why we’ve got double glazing, roof insulation, air conditioners and the coal fired plants to run them.
Pity those poor high school kids in demountables…
It’s days like those (and the fact that the steam bath you’ve described is fairly typical Brisbane summer weather) that makes me giggle every time I hear banana-benders shellacking us southern types about the horrors of Melbourne weather…
Kim, my sweetie pie
I have always maintained that
You are the hotness
Did you remove your chin hair?
Here in Alice, we can sometimes boast a week of 30 C min in February. I must admit, stepping out to yet another 25 C morning and looking forward to yet another 38-40 C max day does get depressing, especially when you don’t have fridge air conditioning in your office (or at home).
Mark – it’s “Why I am so wise”, “Why I am so clever” and “Why I write such excellent books”.
And down in Canberra, it’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.
I don’t find the heat that bad (Western Sydney btw) as long as I get my afternoon, evening breeze.
And I’ve only had to put my air con on about 1/2pm.
When it’s 45 and a few of them in a row, that is when I’ll be bemoaning the fact that we some fucking snow in Summer.
A ruse, I say. Lefty propoganda from global warming whackos.
I must confess I dont miss Brisbane summers at all…
Brisbane in summer is just Townsville with a marginally better river and much better music.
Back in Oz. Damn it’s hot… gonna have to make up for it by getting shnoozled in the Valley tonight I guess…