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mandragoraSo, you're living through a heatwave but it hasn't seemed to be too bad so far. You've been proofing a client in the basement conference room, which is - blessedly - cool for the past two days. And there's a breeze, so it's been hot, yes, but you can cope.
And then there's today. You're working at a different law firm today, situated in the heart of the City (always the hottest part of London). There's no air conditioning. You arrive to find that your desk, formerly situated in a cool corner, that caught the breeze, has been moved upstairs.
You look at the thermometer - 28 degrees C (in the 80s F) at 9am. You try to work. Unfortunately, with the move everything is in a mess and your belongings are scattered about over two floors. You are now bathed in sweat.
By midday it's 30C in the office.
The boys all bugger off to the air-conditioned pub with a client, leaving you as the sole fee earner left in the office to hold the fort. They remain there for two and a half hours.
You wilt some more. You field calls put through by the receptionist and somehow remain polite.
The boys come back. The bastards!
Four pm. It's now 34 degrees C in the office. You sit at your desk and gulp down water. You were meant to be going to the cinema tonight to see Terminator 3 but your friend isn't well and cancels. You've got no food in to eat tonight, having thought you'd be out for dinner, so dash (very, very slowly) off to Marks and Sparks. You enter the foodhall. Ahhhhhh. Air conditioning. You force yourself to leave. The heat outside strikes you like a hammer blow. The heat inside the office isn't any better.
Five pm. It is officially London's hottest ever day since records began (about two hundred years ago). It is stinking hot. So the senior partner of the firm decides that now would be a good time to continue moving the office furniture about. On the hottest day that any of us have ever experienced in London.
YOu help move a few items, then look at your watch. 5.40 pm. That's it - you're out that door. Leave the few remaining boys to it. After all they had a two and a half hour lunch. In air conditioned premises.
You walk - slowly - to the train station. Trains are all buggered because of the heat. You get the first available train and change a few stations up the line for the tube. Ouch. You crawl down into the non-air conditioned tube. There are signal problems. The tube whimpers along in fits and starts.
At last you reach your stop and stagger down the road to your house. Which is like an oven. You open all windows and go for a cold bath (you can't get the shower to run as cold as the bath. Bliss. For the first time (except for brief foray to M&S) you feel cool.
You get out and slump on the sofa. Coolness has already worn off...
And yes, I do know that temperatures on the high 30s (which is what it was in the City today) is nothing to some people. But you've got air conditioning dammit!
Climate change. Now a reality. Looks viciously at the vanity SUV drivers.
And then there's today. You're working at a different law firm today, situated in the heart of the City (always the hottest part of London). There's no air conditioning. You arrive to find that your desk, formerly situated in a cool corner, that caught the breeze, has been moved upstairs.
You look at the thermometer - 28 degrees C (in the 80s F) at 9am. You try to work. Unfortunately, with the move everything is in a mess and your belongings are scattered about over two floors. You are now bathed in sweat.
By midday it's 30C in the office.
The boys all bugger off to the air-conditioned pub with a client, leaving you as the sole fee earner left in the office to hold the fort. They remain there for two and a half hours.
You wilt some more. You field calls put through by the receptionist and somehow remain polite.
The boys come back. The bastards!
Four pm. It's now 34 degrees C in the office. You sit at your desk and gulp down water. You were meant to be going to the cinema tonight to see Terminator 3 but your friend isn't well and cancels. You've got no food in to eat tonight, having thought you'd be out for dinner, so dash (very, very slowly) off to Marks and Sparks. You enter the foodhall. Ahhhhhh. Air conditioning. You force yourself to leave. The heat outside strikes you like a hammer blow. The heat inside the office isn't any better.
Five pm. It is officially London's hottest ever day since records began (about two hundred years ago). It is stinking hot. So the senior partner of the firm decides that now would be a good time to continue moving the office furniture about. On the hottest day that any of us have ever experienced in London.
YOu help move a few items, then look at your watch. 5.40 pm. That's it - you're out that door. Leave the few remaining boys to it. After all they had a two and a half hour lunch. In air conditioned premises.
You walk - slowly - to the train station. Trains are all buggered because of the heat. You get the first available train and change a few stations up the line for the tube. Ouch. You crawl down into the non-air conditioned tube. There are signal problems. The tube whimpers along in fits and starts.
At last you reach your stop and stagger down the road to your house. Which is like an oven. You open all windows and go for a cold bath (you can't get the shower to run as cold as the bath. Bliss. For the first time (except for brief foray to M&S) you feel cool.
You get out and slump on the sofa. Coolness has already worn off...
And yes, I do know that temperatures on the high 30s (which is what it was in the City today) is nothing to some people. But you've got air conditioning dammit!
Climate change. Now a reality. Looks viciously at the vanity SUV drivers.
