My friend Jane has been in town visiting from Northern Ireland since May 25. These past 2+ weeks have been just about the hottest late spring weather anybody can remember. The daily misery index is through the roof and into the stratosphere, which is silly since the temperatures in the stratosphere would rival that of the Antarctic. We have had temps over 90 F with 85%+ humidity since she has been here. Meanwhile Jane is absolutely thrilled to finally be warm as temperatures where she lives in Ballymena, 30 miles north of Belfast, have been cold and damp averaging about 40F. What is wrong with this picture?
People who know me are well aware that my disposition gets worse and worse with every degree above about 75 when the humidity is over 60%. Needless to say during the past few weeks I haven't been my finest. Top that off with the wonderful fact that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past 2 weeks I have had a garden helper working to reclaim my long neglected yard from the wild honeysuckle, grape vines and dead shrubbery which have run amok for the past 6-7 years. My garden worker is the son of good friends and he is more than willing to do just about anything I can think of for him to tackle. Problem comes when it's about 73 or 74 at 8am and near 90 by noon. We have tried to work in the shade but there are times when that simply isn't possible. He wants me outside with him the whole time so I have done more exercise in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 years. Not much visible progress as yet so that gives a slight indication of how Herculean the task actually is!!
Back to Jane. She doesn't like air conditioning. I mean she really doesn't like it. so you can well imagine my misery when we went to visit a friend in Indiana last week and she wanted the car windows open. I managed fine on the 40 minute drive over there. I managed fine, just barely, when we drove a country road looking for some restaurant I had heard had fabulous birds' eye views above the Ohio River - true enough. But after lunch at nearly 3pm with my car parked in the sun for nearly 90 minutes I insisted on AC for the long ride home. she kept her window open about an inch anyway!!
So now I find myself wondering how menopausal Irish women manage. Don't they too get hot flashes and night sweats? Or is it so cold there most of the time that they are simply glad to have the extra body warmth?
I loved the summers I spend in Ireland and Northern Ireland because they were cool and the air was so amazingly clean. Now with the Icelandic volcano dirtying their air and blocking the sun I still think it would be more pleasant for me than staying here and sweltering. Maybe Jane and I just need to trade places for next summer. The weather we have here now is only fit for mad dogs and Irishwomen!!
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