Hot,wet-and very pissed off

We've been having a heat wave: up to nearly 100F last week. People were dropping like flies. The hospital emergency rooms were filled with the deep-fried, suffering from burns and dehydration. I haven't had broadband, phone-all services were off. It was so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. And what a disgusting idea that is! And how to spoil a perfectly good egg...

When the temperature rises past the 20C-68F- mark, I start to sweat, and my hair frizzes. I look like I have an afro- and, if you want to find me, all you need to do is follow the sweat trail. I leave droplets. I also get very short-tempered, and I'm like a snapping turtle-and just as slow. Now you know why I like winter so much. I can layer. In weather like this, there is only so much you can take off before you get arrested.

So I only went out to do the hospital things, the doctor things, my walking (very early in the morning, and it was still hot even then. Grrrr....). If I had a large enough refrigerator, I would have climbed in and stayed there until September. Iceland begins to look really, really good right now...

I made a new friend last weekend. I broke my cardinal rule of keeping neighbors at arm's length, and waved at the new person next door as I passed by. But-she is really nice. Georgina is from Belfast originally, and she had some incredible stories to tell about growing up in Northern Ireland. Since it was too bloody hot to go anywhere, I ended up spending my free time sitting out in the shade (not that the shade made a lot of difference. It was still like sitting in a microwave and putting it on high) and swapping stories and jokes. And sweating. And swearing. She could fill my swear box several times over. In an hour.

I still have no broadband, or phone, or television-or wifi on my mobile. Virgin Media. They suck. So I decided to go to an internet café. Now I am taking myself to see Ghostbusters, the re-boot. It will be interesting to see if the cinema has air conditioning. I hope.

That is the update for now. And, by the way, the internet café doesn't even have a fan. So, before I leave a sweat puddle all over the floor, I'm going to the movies.

Yesterday I went to Queen Square to see my physiotherapist. I was told to walk without my stick for two days a week, carefully, at times when there aren't many people around. So in the afternoon, Georgina and I went a couple of blocks to a café for coffee. She is on one of those frames that has a seat, so we must have made a vision of-what,disability?

I got there, I got back, there were a lot of people around, but I did it anyway. And I did fine. After six years, I might be able to soon be off the crutch. I will be celebrating...