Honestly, I don't remember now how many days it has been.....hot. Like NYC, these small and large Italian towns are made of stone and brick. They bake in the sun. It is like an oven.
It hit one hundred degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. Today we held at 95.
These temperatures were unheard of just a few years ago. IF...and that is a big "if"...If they happened,, it was for a day..or two. Not weeks. Not months.
I have stayed inside most of the time, only going out if I must. I had to go out today....thank goodness, early in the morning before the blistering heat set in. It was 90 degrees at 8am.
I needed x-rays. The hospital was hot. The halls were hot. The elevators were hot. There were a few small spots with some cool relief...behind the receptionist in the radiology department. And while it wasn't great, the actual radiology department was better than the waiting room, or the hallway. This was the hospital I hate that I will never, ever go back to for any kind of actual care. But I remember one year ago, when I had emergency surgery in Chieti. The surgical unit was great. The ER was great. But when they finally moved me up to the room I would spend the next two weeks in, it was stifling.
I also noticed today that the radiology department had a decent bathroom. It was complete. AND it had toilet paper...the toilets had lids!!! There was hot and cold water! (Probably for the benefit of the radiologists) Patient rooms are not equipped with such "luxuries." I never was able to take a shower. Sometimes there was no hot water. Sometimes the toilet didn't have a rim....just the porcelain....real nice for a female. Sometimes...often...no toilet paper.
Well, anyway....here we are in a heat wave...like many other places in the world. Luckily, as uncomfortable as it is, it is not as bad as many other locations in the US and Europe. We have so far lucked out. Supposedly tomorrow we get a bit of a respite and the temperature backs off to a nice, cool 80 something.
I cannot understand how anyone can keep ignoring this blaring siren of climate change. It isn't "summer"..it is an inferno. It is stifling. It is dangerous and frightening and no one is doing a damned thing about it. They have to destroy courts first, and ban books, and take away human rights....and make money, money, money. I am not just talking about the US.
I never thought there would be any advantage to being old....until now. Sometimes I wonder if I am old enough.
