Thursday: I popped out to the supermarket before 8am to get some much-needed groceries. It was already 19C. It was forecast to be the hottest day so far this year, so an early shop was in order. I bought most of what I needed in one store, though needed a few things still, so popped along to the local store only to find there were no salad items at all, and none of the chilled items I wanted either. Apparently, they had issues with the weather, and a number of their fridges had stopped working. There was also no AC. This store also frequently has no lifts in working order, and the travellator is often out of order. Somebody in management really needs to get off their butt and upgrade their electrics. By the time I returned it was already 21C. I put away the groceries, did some tidying up, and by mid-day, we’d topped 30C. By mid-afternoon the temperature was 34C and at that point, I stopped checking as it was making me feel ill. We all had a bad night; our respective bedrooms didn’t get below 29C. Only the dog, sleeping on the stone floor in the kitchen seemed to get a decent night.

Friday: I did a little tidying in readiness for the contractor, along with the landlord’s Dad, on Saturday. I broke up the vacuuming into 3 attempts; the house isn’t that big, but it was too hot to do it all in one go. Why her Dad has to come too is anyone’s guess. I counted, and in the 13 months we’ve lived here we’ve had inspections and repairs for a total of 10 times without the need for him to come too. Frankly, I’m getting sick of what I feel are intrusions. With the noisy neighbours too, I’m not surprised renters don’t stay too long at this property!

The weather today is cloudy, cooler, but also very heavy and we really need some prolonged rain to bring down the temperature.

I’ve reconnected with my old alumni to ask if they assist with careers and job searches. As part of the process, I noted a news update on the campus that I used to work on and was sorely disappointed to see that the site has now been sold for a large sum of money to a house builder. No doubt the poison dwarf that is the VC will get a nice fat bonus whilst the staff probably won’t see any benefits from this sale. More houses will add to an already failing infrastructure there, and I’m so glad I left; to see parts of it being torn down would be more than I could bear.

Saturday: Just after 5am, I could hear the dog crying. It sounded like he was having a bad dream, but his crying went on, and with the heat and his thick coat, I was concerned he was in distress. I quickly went downstairs, only for him to stretch out in his bed and look at me as if to say Whaaat. Oh well, it’s not like I was asleep anyway; the neighbours had woken me at 4.30 shouting, as usual. Another bad night with pins and needles too. I’ve only been on the reduced meds for less than 3 weeks, so I’ll give it a month and see if things settle, though I already have dark circles under my eyes again. Sighs…

On the plus side, and I do mean this, overnight it rained, a nice gentle rain that will do the plants a world of good, damp down the pollen, and hopefully bring down the temperature too. Over the next few days, we’re forecast quite a bit of rain and a drop in temperature of about 10C. I’ll tolerate the rain for now if it means it will be cooler.

Have a great weekend.