What Not To Do When It's 34 Degrees Celsius

Iron Heat, originally uploaded by incuboy.

Iron Heat, originally uploaded by incuboy.

Ok, this is unheard of (at least for me): Vancouver today is hotter than Clil. Unbelievable. Indoors its warm enough to sweat from the tiniest efforts (i.e.: twisting a screwdriver into a screw to put back the blinds on the windows). And when you step outside you get this blast of hot air, not unlike what happens when one opens the oven's door while it's still roasting potatoes. And please remember that Vancouver is for the most part an air-conditioner free place, except of course for chain-operated cafes, supermarkets, malls, etc. The average BC businesses do not bother with installing air conditioners because it is so rarely needed here. Keep in mind that for us in BC summer means a handful of beautiful days (i.e. room temperature at the most) with lots of rain inbetween, and only very occasional days of temperatures over 25C. Today we reached highs of 34C (aka 93F) which lingered well into the late evening. Now at 10pm it's finally "cool" - 28C.

There is very little I am able to do in such weather conditions, besides noticing what weighs me down and is unbearable in these conditions:

- Blogging on your laptop when it's actually sitting on your laps (unless you want to have laptop marks on your thighs)
- Wearing jewelry - or wearing anything, for that matter. Even the notion of putting any fragrance on seems overbearing. I stick to the basics - vetiver scented soaps and my sandalwood fan to maintain my sanity.
- Baking or cooking (I roasted eggplants for babaganoosh for dinner today - big mistake!)
- Lighting candles, scented or otherwise: while they do make the room smell fabulous - they also warm up the place even in small increments. And you don't want THAT to happen.
- And pretty much anything else that has a purpose other than cooling off.

On the other hand, the heat is causing me to behave in most uncivilized manner. For example, today I bought a pair of shorts, something I haven't done since I was about 11 or 12. On any normal day I am principally opposed to wearing shorts (I just think they are the most hideous garment ever invented and you won't catch me dead wearing ones). This weather is really comprisming my morals!

And on another completely strange note, I find myself strangely eager to make some fragrant preparation that are utterly messy. Tomorrow I am planning to release all the lavender buds off their stems (I got them from Montrose Farm from Bowen Island at the West End farmer's market). I want to make more bath salts and sugar scrubs. And more than anything else I want to finally get on to making my own incense cones. If it wasn't for the disadvantegous humidity, this is what I would have done a week ago when everything got out of control... I may not be able to control myself tomorrow though and just start working on that incense anyway. And if my laps aren't burning fro wearing shorts and typing on my laptop, I'll even blog about it.