A sweltering day

The girl came over last night bringing a container full of dumplings for herself, and I had a couple of them, then this morning after we got up - it wasn't too late, about 9.30am by this time - she cooked some more dumplings that I still had in the freezer from an earlier occasion. It was hot in the apartment because of the outside temperature, but she also made some egg pancake with flour and eggs and seasoning - she used harissa seasoning and chilli - which we ate with some baby tomatoes, and a cup of coffee each.

Later she asked me if she could have some sugar for her coffee because without it she said it was too bitter.

Once we had finished and she had had a shower we headed out in the car. She didn't have any contact lenses or her glasses, and because she is so short-sighted, she needed me to take her home. I drove through the heavy traffic and the heat in Alexandria and down to the Princes Highway. After finding a parking spot and dropping her off at her place I got back in the car and drove back to my place, handling the heavy traffic at Fig Street deftly - I'm used to these streets around my place now - and putting the car away in the cool garage without mishap.

After I got inside I poured myself a glass of wine and drank it while attending to social media. I only put up one tweet - to mention that I was having some wine - before I got up and headed to the bedroom and lay down to have a nap. A couple of hours later she sent me two messages, which woke me up, and I decided to get out of bed and get back to the computer. I had been feeling especially optimistic about being on social media this afternoon because of the heatwave we are having in the southeast of the continent, and felt that I could add some value to Twitter especially by tweeting some messages of encouragement to people out there in the community.

I had another glass of wine then sat down at the console. Someone on Facebook was posting about the weather, saying is was a "shite" day. My heart went out to them. I commented on their post. I think I am especially fortunate because I have built up some extra resistance to the heat because of living in southeast Queensland for so long - it was five-and-a-half years up there for me looking after mum. In fact my psychiatrist told me that living in hot climes can have this effect on you, that you develop more sweat glands than usual, and are therefore able to handle higher temperatures when they arise. Today is an exceptionally hot day, to be sure, but it's not especially difficult compared to how it used to get up in Maroochydore, where I lived from June 2009 until February 2015.

So I will keep an eye out for those who are struggling and try to give them some comfort on this day of high heat. Sydney will be the hardest hit metropolitan centre this time, with very high temperatures expected here over the next three days, and with temperatures finally coming down on Monday. If you want to talk about your situation, don't hesitate to get in touch; I'm available on Facebook Messenger as well as Twitter DM. Take care and be good. See you later on.