London Melt Down

[susandennis]

In 1985, I got to go to London with my Mom. Just the two of us. We had center court tickets to Wimbledon for two days and 7 more just to explore. It was wonderful and magical and one of the hottest fucking summers that England had ever seen. And we learned that Brits don't do ice. We fought for the few cubes we found and considered them to be just gold. When London gets hot, it fries.

So I am sorry, British friends. I hope cool comes soon.

This morning, I popped out before the hot, and went to Amazon Fresh. I returned my Amazon order, got a $10 off coupon and used it right away with my groceries. I got home before the clouds left so whew.

I got the goods to make gazpacho and chicken spaghetti. That, with the stuff in the freezer, should tie me over for the week.

Today is the last baseball game until Friday. The all star break shuts it all down for four horrible miserable days. In the Mariner's case this year, it will probably spell the beginning of the end of this great run we've been having. It has been fun. They play today at 11 and then crickets. I hate the all star break so much. Next year the all star game and all it's surrounding activities will be here, in Seattle. That could be interesting. It was here once before. I was working in an office across the street at the time so didn't miss much of the action.

Before today's game, I need to put the groceries away and make a trip down to the dumpster.

Getting on that now.

Comments

[thestainlesssteelrat]

The good news is we do ice now. I'm forever having to tell wait staff not to put it in drinks, but I might let it slide the next couple of days.

[susandennis]

you mean i can come back??!! yahoooo!! Sadly, Mom's dead but i'm guessing she's doing a little Dance of Joy where ever she is

stay cool

[vegetablearian]

Thank god, we have ice now, but we don't have much else! I have some ceiling fans and feel very futuristic and cosmopolitan for it. I think we might have to consider AC in the future, somehow - it's so crazy because it's never been necessary in this country (maybe foreign visitors would have disagreed, hehe).

I really appreciate the sympathy! It's not going to be pretty. I'm sure I'll get through it, miserably - I can't stop thinking about the people who won't. Everything here is built to conserve every last speck of heat. At least it will be over by Wednesday, touch wood. And we've had some respite from it this week, unlike a lot of the rest of Europe.

Maybe I'll try out your gazpacho recipe :) Even with this heat building today, something in me is intuitively resisting cooling foods, lmao. It's just not something I'm used to!

[susandennis]

A lot of Seattle still has no air conditioning (the people who live in the condo next door to mine do not...yet... he said he's going to buy a portable unit this week). I think it's harder when you aren't used to it.

Looking at the rest of Europe just makes me want to crawl into my refrigerator. You just don't think about Spain equaling Texas.

[loganberrybunny]

Plus there's another factor that surprises a lot of people (it did me) -- even in Spain, quite a lot of people don't have AC. From memory, under half do. Though unsurprisingly it's more common in the hotter south, you still can't count on it even in 2022.

[vegetablearian]

Oh, I thought at least portable units would be more common there. I've been so surprised by your posts about how hot it can get in Seattle - I think I mentioned before, I thought it was cold and rainy like here. Well, I guess here isn't always so cold and rainy after all, either!

Yeah, those temps are absolutely brutal!

[susandennis]

For about six weeks it's hot most days. And then cold and rainy the rest :). The heat has come on over the past 30 years. When I first moved here, 30 years ago, most people didn't have air conditioning in their cars.

It used to be that portable units were real hard to find. Some stores had window units but not many and none when it got real hot. Now, you could walk into any hardware store or Costco and come out with a portable or window unit today.

[ringsandcoffee]

I was in London on their hottest day in 2015. I think that was the day we walked around Notting Hill, and we were able to duck into a few shops that had AC. Our AirBNB, however, did not, so we had to just lay down with the windows open. Even living in Phoenix doesn't make being OUTSIDE in the heat much fun.

[gwendraith]

I was living in London in 1976 during the longest heatwave in living memory and the worst drought for 100 years. There was water shortages and there was standpipes in the street to collect water. And, I was pregnant and had my elder son in the middle of it. When we do a heatwave, we really do a heatwave :) I've survived today's heat okay and just hope tomorrow isn't worse.

[rsc]

Yeah, the Mariners must be sorry to have to take the All-Star break. Their 14-game streak, according to today's paper, is the longest going into the break in history.

For us, the break is an opportunity to do some catchup on our accumulated TV. Also, our team could really use a break. (An unfortunate choice of words, actually, considering what happened to our supposedly star pitcher yesterday.)

[susandennis]

i saw that about sale. suks big time. also facing the yankees suks big time. sorry for your loss(es)