A cool head on hot shoulders

A re-cap on the summer just gone: I need not tell you that its been a hot summer. Phew-wee, what a scorcher. Of course, the downside of writing is usually you’re inside writing at your computer while the rest of the land lounges outside in all the glorious sunshine. Oh, you can try and write outside; the idea of grabbing a laptop and a pitcher of Pimm’s has a certain attraction. Unfortunately, as most will have discovered, you can’t actually see your screen. The glare of the sun’s rays turning it into a greyish mirror. So after downing the last of the Pimm’s you stagger, slightly unsteadily, back into the house and sit down to work. Luckily, all that solar radiation has passed us by, because I can tell you now, things got pretty hot in my study over the summer. God knows what the temperature got to, but I was expecting to see the paint dripping from the walls. The problem I have is that my study, a converted box room in which I can touch all four walls when standing in the middle, is not what you call well-ventilated. I don’t mean, airless and stuffy, it’s just that it’s not good at getting a cooling draft in there. The main problem is the amount of kit I have. I’m a bit of a computer geek. To help me do all my art based projects I have two tables laden with a large stack of out of date equipment, all of which kicks out an impressive amount of heat. Couple that with the blast furnace going on outside during the summer and things got seriously unpleasant. 

Eventually, I reached a point of thermal exhaustion driving me to break my life-long hatred of fans - The circular blowy things, not you nice people. All my life I have bemoaned people who would sit in front of electric guzzling devices, thinking why are people so bad at keeping cool. It’s something I got from my Dad, he lived in a desert for many years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sweat. Anyway, I hold my hands up. I’m sorry. I now pray in front of the Dyson alter. It turned writing this summer back into the pleasurable experience it is supposed to be. Ah well, the summer is over and cooler climes are on the horizon. I just hope the winds don’t take the roof off again this year. Perhaps I should follow the sun? It’s nice to dream.