This is extreme summer, the very height of sweatiness marked by a fortnight above 30 degrees with three 40C days in a row. The cooling nights angrily absent, the fans spluttering and the air-conditioned malls alluring. The wide brimmed hats and smell of sunscreen offering a meek defence against the penetrating sun. The evening walks barely cooler, made worse by the smoky air filling in the valleys from every direction.
The dry gusty winds like an overactive hairdryer, all too quick to ignite whatever lay in their path. Great for drying the washing. Crunchy yellow grass, even the animals cannot be bothered to do much but sqwawk even more vehemently. Only humans persist, keeping the economy afloat, but that too seems to be withering away like a 30 cent softserve from McDonalds.
Metal handrails on Mount Ainslie are scalding to touch, frozen cokes rapidly defrosting in baking car interiors. The car a/c up to the FOURTH notch for the first time ever. Lethargic pilgrims heading to the water, the sand-whipped beaches and shark filled surf of the east or the brown waterholes of the west. Some even float along with eskies in the stagnancy of Lake Burley Griffin. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
This is the extreme of an extreme summer yet we are the lucky ones.
The dry gusty winds like an overactive hairdryer, all too quick to ignite whatever lay in their path. Great for drying the washing. Crunchy yellow grass, even the animals cannot be bothered to do much but sqwawk even more vehemently. Only humans persist, keeping the economy afloat, but that too seems to be withering away like a 30 cent softserve from McDonalds.
Metal handrails on Mount Ainslie are scalding to touch, frozen cokes rapidly defrosting in baking car interiors. The car a/c up to the FOURTH notch for the first time ever. Lethargic pilgrims heading to the water, the sand-whipped beaches and shark filled surf of the east or the brown waterholes of the west. Some even float along with eskies in the stagnancy of Lake Burley Griffin. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
This is the extreme of an extreme summer yet we are the lucky ones.
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