The Dog Days of Summer

Thanks to powerful fans in my apartment aimed directly at me at all times, I’m riding out the latest heat wave in France much better than the last great canicule (« la canicule » the word to designate the hottest part of summer, is now used to mean heat wave too). From Wikipedia: “The term itself was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after the constellation of Canis Major (big dog) within which Sirius (α Canis Majoris) is found. As the hottest and most humid days of summer generally coincided with the period where Sirius rose/set with the sun, they believed that heat from Sirius was increasing the heat of the sun.”
Anyhoo, thus far, this heat wave has been reasonable compared to 2003.
But the folks back home in Texas or Arizona should consider this: today’s forecast calls for a high of 36°C. That’s 96.8°F for those of you not on the metric system. We’ll call it 97° to have a rounded numeral. 97° not counting the humidity or the searing city pavement that continues to reflect heat up into my apartment well past midnight. You may scoff, as temperatures in the Lone Star state or AZ are well above 100°F these days. But here’s the crux of the matter: 97°F and no a/c. The temperature inside my apartment hasn’t gone below 80°F in days (that’s in the middle of the night. Most of the time, it’s about 85°F). And there’s no place to go to escape, as people here are superstitious of drafts (as in airflow, not as in military conscription) and air conditioning, so even in places that you would think would provide relief (movie theatres, shopping malls) you don’t get any (relief that is). The one place that feels good is my grocery store’s refrigerated section, so I’ve been taking my time picking out yoghurt lately.
Think about it. And go give your air conditioning unit (which is probably contributing to global warming and increasing the frequency of these terrible heat waves!!) a big hug.