Friday, November 14, 2008

Waiting for the southerly

Memories of childhood.

Hot summer days. Playing under the sprinkler. Lying on a towel in the sun (but not for too long!). Sprawling on the lounge, curtains drawn, fending off the heat outside. A wet face washer cooled in front of the fan and laid on face and arms for momentary ease.

Lying in bed in the evening with the window wide opening, stifling heat keeping sleep at bay. Waiting for that first breath of moving air. The sheer curtain finally lifting, billowing, and falling back against the glass, but just the once. A cool breeze creeping through the window, not quite strong enough to push aside the curtain. Looping the curtain up out of the way. The breeze picks up, there's a smell of rain in the air. The first fat drops begin to fall. The sound of wind in the trees heralds its arrival.

The southerly finally hits. I can breathe again and sleep in the welcome coolness.

The air-con problem yesterday was not just operator error. Something ain't right, there's someone coming to look at it tomorrow.

5 comments:

Ariane said...

Oh yes, I felt it too today.

I also remember trying to sleep on the floor, because it was half a degree cooler.

Shrinking Tardie said...

Like Ariane I remember trying to find a cooler spot on the floor, generally directly under the window.

You've got to wonder if the running around under sprinklers in our undies didn't add to the current water problems eh? How much water did our generation 'waste' on having a good time :-)

I also remember holland blinds flapping in my Aunt's lounge-room in Sydney when I used to go up there for summer holidays.

Good luck with the air-con Mim. Nothing worse than a brand new thing not working. I'm off to get a new kenwood food processory thingy replaced next week (after exams) as our brand new one absolutely shat itself the other night while shredding what must have been the world's toughest cabbage!

N

N

Anonymous said...

Nothing like a spot of reminiscing about childhood days during the summer. I too remember playing under the sprinkler and running around in my undies.

Megan said...

I was chatting to someone about this yesterday - remember when most cars didn't have air con and family holidays meant windows wide open and waiting til you got to the highway so your speed would produce enough breeze?

Kate said...

This post reminds me so much of my time in Melbourne. There was this one night in February where it was CRAZY hot (like 29 degrees) in the middle of the night. It was just miserable. But then the next night the breeze was back :)