Jul. 13th, 2003 10:42 pm
I'm melting... I'm melting...
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vin_petrolSome musings on hot, sunny weather and personal preferences.
So do I avoid the sun because I don't like it, or is avoiding the sun an affectation I've deliberately cultivated in order to appear "different from the norm"? I used to argue with a woman called Erica about this sort of thing. Well, to be honest I just used to argue with Erica about pretty much anything. It passed the time when I worked at Pindar. I think one very hot sunny day she declared it "nice", and I took issue with this, pointing out that I didn't think a hot, sunny was really "nice". My definition of it was "nasty". We used to argue a lot...
Anyway, today was hot and sunny and I thought I would be all open minded about it. I would try sitting in the sun with an open mind and see how I got on. I was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, with a cap to stop my head getting burned. I had shades on too. So it's not like I was sitting around in a black t-shirt and jeans.
I don't like it. It's not an affectation. I really just don't get on with it. I tried lying on a blanket in the sun. I was reading a book. All the time my body was shouting messages at me. "Are you a lizard? Trying to warm your cold blood or something? No, you're a *mammal*, you can generate your own body heat. Look, I'm *sweating* to cool you down, you lamer. What about all this sunlight? Can't you feel it destroying the cellular structure of your skin. Ouch! I'm increasing melanin levels in an attempt to protect your delicate skin cells. You're a North European, dammit, your genetic inheritance hasn't set you up for this. I notice you've got shades on 'cos your eyes are going 'aaaarrghh - it's too bright'. Doesn't that *mean* something. Look, it's nice and cool inside. Why don't you go an sit in there". So I did. I suppose I do kinda like hot, sunny days. They do make the cool inside of a house far more inviting. It could be said that I like to be next to a hot sunny day. I just don't want to be *in* it. Plus, right now (22.30) it's really mellow. Vaguely dark but pleasently warm.
I will admit I do like hot, sunny days for riding my motorcycle really fast on. The tarmac gets all warm and grippy, but then you're going at high speeds and you get a nice cooling blast of air.
Trash was quite happy in the sun, and lay around looking very cute in her black bikini. She seems to have gone a brown colour. After the amount of blonde highlights she had put in her hair yesterday she now looks very different from how she did on Friday!
So do I avoid the sun because I don't like it, or is avoiding the sun an affectation I've deliberately cultivated in order to appear "different from the norm"? I used to argue with a woman called Erica about this sort of thing. Well, to be honest I just used to argue with Erica about pretty much anything. It passed the time when I worked at Pindar. I think one very hot sunny day she declared it "nice", and I took issue with this, pointing out that I didn't think a hot, sunny was really "nice". My definition of it was "nasty". We used to argue a lot...
Anyway, today was hot and sunny and I thought I would be all open minded about it. I would try sitting in the sun with an open mind and see how I got on. I was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, with a cap to stop my head getting burned. I had shades on too. So it's not like I was sitting around in a black t-shirt and jeans.
I don't like it. It's not an affectation. I really just don't get on with it. I tried lying on a blanket in the sun. I was reading a book. All the time my body was shouting messages at me. "Are you a lizard? Trying to warm your cold blood or something? No, you're a *mammal*, you can generate your own body heat. Look, I'm *sweating* to cool you down, you lamer. What about all this sunlight? Can't you feel it destroying the cellular structure of your skin. Ouch! I'm increasing melanin levels in an attempt to protect your delicate skin cells. You're a North European, dammit, your genetic inheritance hasn't set you up for this. I notice you've got shades on 'cos your eyes are going 'aaaarrghh - it's too bright'. Doesn't that *mean* something. Look, it's nice and cool inside. Why don't you go an sit in there". So I did. I suppose I do kinda like hot, sunny days. They do make the cool inside of a house far more inviting. It could be said that I like to be next to a hot sunny day. I just don't want to be *in* it. Plus, right now (22.30) it's really mellow. Vaguely dark but pleasently warm.
I will admit I do like hot, sunny days for riding my motorcycle really fast on. The tarmac gets all warm and grippy, but then you're going at high speeds and you get a nice cooling blast of air.
Trash was quite happy in the sun, and lay around looking very cute in her black bikini. She seems to have gone a brown colour. After the amount of blonde highlights she had put in her hair yesterday she now looks very different from how she did on Friday!
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You'll be moaning about it being grey and cold in a couple of months :-P
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Well, the truth is that my favourite seasons are spring and autumn. Spring probably has the edge due to the way life returns to the world, and the roads dry up. I like to wander around in jeans, t-shirt and jacket and not melt. I don't like *rain*, that's certain, but *cold* doesn't really bother me much (apart from icy roads!)
There's a special day every year when the sun comes out for the first time and you remember why it is exactly you ride a motorbike.
In a couple of months it will be September, and beautifully mild...
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I went off to a few web sites and looked at this stuff. Looks like quite interesting racing, unlike that *ahem* F1 malarkey it has been my misfortune to watch this year. Does it get shown on the television?
I do like the little extra spoilers on the Type-Rs.
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Hmph - won't bother to invite you for the British GP this weekend then... it's curry too.
I do like the little extra spoilers on the Type-Rs.
So cute. Are you going to have one for boy racer pose?
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Nooooo. Please let me come. Otherwise I'll only have to watch it on my own anyway. At least this way I get nice food, and get to watch you and
Maybe at some point I'll see one F1 car overtake another (where pit stops, the first two corners or back markers are not involved)!
I'm sure F1 is interesting if you're into it. That's one of the reasons I wander along to your sessions - to absorb a certain amount of knowledge from those who know about it. I had to do this for football (I mean, if you don't *know*, you have to work out what full backs are. I listened to people who knew). I just think F1 isn't for me. It's too remote from my experiences.
I was looking forward to cutting the pudding up. :-)
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I'm getting a pudding that needs cutting up specially so
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Are we? Does that mean you're cooking?
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My parent's have a place in a quiet small town on Tenerife away from the tourons and the commercialism. It's on the south east coast which means the breeze comes off of the land. It's on average warmer than here by about 20F (10C) but I can cope. I find the dry air is fine. I don't perspire. The constant breeze means I wear light and airy clothing which covers most of me. The Tenerifans are also used to the weather and truely only mad dogs and English men (and women) go out in the midday sun. Everyone else is safe in doors. Hell you can't even walk in bare feet across the patio by the pool as you'll burn your feet. So you get up early and head out in the cool morning (I shop for groceries around 7.30am). Spend the morning pottering with possibly a swim in the sea or the pool before returning for lunch around midday. You spend until 4.00pm inside possibly working, possibly sleeping. All the shops are shut anyway. Then you head out again around 4.00. If you're on your hols then the next three hours are spent on the beach before returning to dress for the evening. Then there's tapas on the balcony/patio before heading to the town square to sit at a bar and chat with the locals and drink a couple of Doradas. 10.00 you head off to a restaurant for dinner before returning to the bars later. About 1.00 to 2.00am you head off to bed. About 4.00 in the morning the regular rains come cleansing the town for the following day. The pace of life is slower and people have learnt to live with the heat.
Here we go mad on the few hot days we have. Because of the humidity of this country it get's muggy and we all sweat and feel uncomfortable. We head out in the midday heat. Our houses are designed to keep us warm and not cool (Tenerifan glass reflects the heat) and because we get little sun we dress for the beach when it's sunny and so burn.
It was lovely in the garden yesterday morning and in the evening when we had a barbeque after which we lay on the grass in the evening air watching the insects fly around the sky. During the day we spent the time in our living room which is fairly minimally furnished with a veneered floor and the patio doors and the front windows open is a cool room. We had no net connection or TV in the living room (see LJ) so I spent the middle of Saturday and Sunday in a very middle class way, sat in a chair, listening to Radio 4 and reading.
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Our houses are designed to keep us warm and not cool
Too true. But then again, you get a lot more cold days in England than hot ones!
We didn't get aircon in our new car. I've missed it on precisely 1 (one) day in the last 18 months...
Some people clearly do have no problems sitting around in the midday sun. My wife did it for ages and suffered no ill effects. Well, that's cool for her, but it doesn't work for me.
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What I loathe is humidity. Makes the air feel like a damp sock and drains the life from you.
Wandering around Arizona in 115-120F dry heat didn't bother me as long as I kept my fluid intake up, whereas a muggy day in the low 80s here completely destroys my energy!
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