It’s hot around here.  Very hot.  Almost 100 degrees hot.  Miserably hot, in other words.  The kind of heat that becomes the sole topic of conversation on the news and in stores and over telephone lines.

Growing up the in UK, I was never exposed to much heat.  Bikini weather for us was 70 degrees, and  anything over 85 was described as a heatwave. 

I got my first real taste of heat when I lived in North Carolina.  My first summer there we had days that were over 100 degrees, and I was incredibly grateful for the wonderful American invention of air conditioning (we don’t have much of that around in the UK).  I don’t recall it being too humid, though.  Not humid like it is here in Illinois.

I lived in South Dakota for 9 years.  Most people associate South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska et al with the cold – sub zero temperatures, lots of snow, that kind of stuff.  What they don’t realize is that the summers in the part of the country can be hot.  Incredibly hot.  100+ degree hot.  In fact, the penultimate summer that I lived there (2003) saw temperatures close to 110 degrees.  Now THAT’S hot!

When we moved to Illinois, we knew that it would get pretty warm in the summer.  What we didn’t realize, though, was that this area is also very humid.  South Dakota heat is a dry heat, which makes is easier for me to handle.  Illinois’ humidity just about does me in.  We had days a couple of weeks ago that saw 95+ degrees with 70% humidity.  This week, we’re projected to have 100 degree temperatures and humidity at or above 60%.

60% humidity is rotten.  It’s sticky, steamy…..it makes me feel perpetually damp, like I just got done showering but didn’t dry off properly before putting my clothes on.   I sweat buckets (forget that old adage about horses sweating, men perspiring and women gently glowing, I SWEAT) and may as well not bother doing my hair or makeup because they fall flat and slide right off my face as soon as I step outside. 

Around here, air conditioning is a MUST.  I cannot imagine how people without a/c manage at this time of year, especially the elderly, the very young, or those people who have respiratory or other illnesses that make them more sensitive to temperature changes.   I can’t imagine living without it – don’t WANT to imagine living without it.

I’m at work right now, taking a well-earned tea-break (what is it about us British that makes us want to drink tea even in the height of summer?  If there really is a firey-and-brimstone-y hell, I bet it’s filled with Brits, sitting around the lake of fire in deckchairs, drinking cups of tea out of thermos flasks).  In an hour or so, I’m going to have to load my gear  and self up into my truck-that-also-doubles-as-an-oven and make the short but intensely hot and sweaty drive home. 

I’m not looking forward to it. 

*30 minutes later*  It’s 95 degrees, but with the heat index it feels like 102, and it’s only gonna get hotter –  it’s supposed to top-out at 101 this afternoon.