Gilly Flower

Choosing a title for today's blog entry was easy. Lonnie has just recorded 37 degrees, its hottest day for 100 years, so melting is what I'm doing.

Dripping onto the keyboard in fact. Even so it's not as hot here as it's been in Adelaide or Melbourne where they've endured 44 degrees for the second or third day running. Now that is hot. I've survived a few days like that when I lived in Perth, where you stepped outside and breathed fire, and all you wanted to do was spend the day in a darkened room, and in a tub of cold water.

That's pretty much what M and I did actually on the day I first experienced 45 degrees. I'd only been in the country for six months, and in that time Perth recorded its hottest day, an earthquake, and rather more than just the tail end of a cyclone. It all made for some very exciting letters home.

That first hottest day was one of those rare occasions when our days off coincided. We spent it lying on the floor of our flat, on damp towels, reading and drinking vast quantities of iced water. No aircon in our basic rented accommodation. I don't remember even having a fan, so we had to sit out the day until the 'Fremantle Doctor' blew in at some point during the afternoon.

In subsequent years when the mercury topped 38 degrees, and didn't feel any cooler at night in the house, I did what many of the locals did, and spent the night on the beach. It was surprising how cool it became on the beach at around 3am, so sleeping bags and a waterproof mat were a definite necessity, but great to get up in the morning and start the day with a quick dip in the ocean before heading home to a hot and airless flat, a cool shower, and a hurried brekkie before heading out to work.

A shower is what I need right now. After yet one more glass of cold water. The house still feels like an oven, and the overnight temperature is to be about 19 or 20. That is a seriously warm night for northern Tas, and doesn't bode well for a good night's sleep.

No cool change either until at least Sunday. I wonder how the climate change deniers are justifying these extremes.