Beating the heat

Last week, the Vancouver region was staring sullenly at the thermometer, watching the clouds roll by, layering clothing in naive anticipation of partial removal, and patiently wondering whether or when summer would come. And just as we all gave up on the idea, pulled out our Christmas sweaters and decided to wait for next year, summer seems to have jumped out of nowhere fallen flat on it's face at our doorsteps.


The 15 degrees Celsius of last week has more than doubled, and the air is thicker than this dog's fat skull.

That, by the way, is my sister's bullmastiff Kato, and best bud Delaney.

Anyways, for someone like me, who adjusts rather poorly to hot weather, it is necessary to find as many ways as possible to keep cool. So today I simply offer some suggestions.

Yesterday turned out fairly well for me. I started the day off with a cool shower, avoiding drying my hair despite the frizztastic quality it gets (fortunately it's long enough now that I can tie it up). I got in my non-air-conditioned vehicle for a grueling ride with a friend to Lynn Canyon, a heavily forested and deep trail within the mountain, serpentining alongside a wonderful, frigid river that I couldn't resist soaking my legs in for a while. We took some sandwiches and buckets of water along, and charged up as the clear, fresh water flowed past our feet.

After that, and another grueling car ride back home, we stopped for slushie beverages which I thoroughly enjoyed for about 4 sips before I proceeded to take a sharp turn and spill it all over my car. Fail. Good while it lasted, though.

When I got home, I stripped away the sweaty mountain clothes and wiped myself down with a cold towel before getting into a nice, well ventilated dress, and found a shady place out in the yard to veg out and read. By then, it was coming up on sunset, so my boyfriend came over and we grabbed some more icy-cool drinks and headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a spectacular experience; we arrived just in time to see it creeping below the mountains. Then we walked down to a secluded sandy spot, shielded from the wind, where we again soaked our legs in the perfectly cool water, and laid in the sand until the sky was filled with stars.

At that point, being far less suffocated by the overwhelming humidity, I suddenly realized how hungry I was, so we went home. I ate a leftover half sandwich from earlier in the day, had one more cool drink, washed off my legs from the ocean, and went to bed with a fan in my face.

I woke up feeling good this morning, and wanting to repeat it all again! But I think today might be an indoor day. Most indoor activities seem to be air conditioned these days anyways. For example:

Movie theatres

Karaoke

Bowling

Indoor roller rinks

Shopping centers

Fitness centers (+swimming pools)

Restaurants

Furniture stores (I like to go pretend I'm buying a couch, and test all of them)

And more! Maybe. In any case, I need to turn off this computer. It's not very happy operating in this weather either. Best of luck to all of you, warm weather or otherwise, in enjoying it however you see fit!