It's so nice to have kids at times - like when the mercury is scaling stupid heights and you have no way of escaping the heat. I went shopping for a cheap fan this morning, didn't like the look of the stock that our local shop was holding, so I bought a portable air conditioner instead. The forecast for the rest of the week is low to mid 20's (celsius), so we might not use it again this summer - but it was $600 well spent. My excuse to my wallet was that the kids need to be looked after, rather than me.
We set it up in the kid's bedroom and spent the day huddled around it. My neck was playing up, and the best way to get through a dose of neck pain is to sleep, so I spent much of the day curled up in the Monkey's bed, which is about 2/3 my length, trying to sleep as he alternatively built and then Godzilla'd a train track. Every now and then, he'd run Thomas the Tank Engine up my arm, and then peel an eyelid open to enquire as to whether I wanted to play with trains.
As it was, even with the relatively cool air, the kids were grumpy and grouchy, and they spent most of the day eating icy poles. I hate to think what it would have been like if I hadn't spent the money. Just plain misery. It's days like today that reinforce my desire to build a house with a certain amount of straw bale or rammed earth walls - walls at least a foot thick - with one or more rooms underground, to escape the heat.
I've lived in Sydney for nearly 20 years without benefit of air conditioning, so this can only mean that I am going soft in my old age.
And you know what? I don't mind at all.
1 comment:
It must've been terrible. I find it amazing how temperatures differ so much in the sydney metro area. Around here it was hot, but bearable with a sea breeze.
I must admit this February is really testing my resolve not to get airconditioning. I just need one for my office... (my excuse is that it holds all our computing gear so it needs to be cool).
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