I didn’t think it could get much worse: 47 degrees, trying to stay indoors anytime between 10 and 6, going for a run only after 6.30pm and drinking 6-8 litres of water a day. Reports say it’ll go up to 50 next week. Every time it goes up a couple of degrees I’m not sure how I’ll cope but then I just do. It just gets less enjoyable.
I’m pretty bored of drinking water and I’ve been know on some days to drink up to 10 litres. If you have some alcohol it has to be weighed up against how much water you can drink in the time left in the day. I had two beers the other day and got a dehydration headache. I pretty much stop at a few beers these days.
Today I found it hard to concentrate at work. If the water coolers don’t work in the office the sweat immediately starts. These are contraptions that suck in water from the tap, sprinkle it onto squares of hay at the sides with a big fan in the middle that blows out the water-cooled air. Air con would be nice but it’s too expensive. Someone in the office took pity on me one day and put a fan on my desk. The staff think it’s hilarious and call it my personal AC. It can be a life saver though. If it gets really bad I splash water on my face and sit there with it on the hurricane setting. I don't get big wind-blown 80’s rock video hair though, it's usually stuck to my neck. Make up you can also forget. I don’t think they sell it in sweat-proof.Keeping up with yoga is fine providing you can summon the energy to get back out of the flat once you’re home. Swimming is ok between the hours of 7 and 9am only. Any later and the hoards of kids appear and sun burn is a strong possibility. I tried the local running track last Saturday at 8am. It must have been over 35 degrees already so it was more of a run with walking water breaks. My companion and I are aiming for 7am this Saturday. I don’t think I can do any earlier.
But here’s the thing. Does this all mean when it gets to 50 I’ll end up house-bound? Not wanting to venture out into the oven-like breeze I might end up planted in front of the AC that I splashed out on. My savings have never been spent on anything better. It used to make my room a freezing 22. Now on max it’s about 30 and my fan is whirring away. Dilliwallahs talk of escaping to the Himilayas in June. A local friend tells me to get up at 5am every day. I might have to take this advice next week. If it gets bad you might see me doing the monsoon rain dance on the terrace at 5am every morning. You never know, it could become a local attraction.
Hi jen, I've been catching up on your blog tonight as I have borrowed a internet dongle for test. I empathise with your struggles in the heat and humidity. have you tried the simple bucket of water over the head route for cool down. It works for a few mins. Those water coolers are quite something, I saw one at Susie's earlier this month for the first time, pretty noisy however. A friend who is vol in Gambia tells me the monsoon has started early there and so they are lapping up the cooler temperatures but still struggling sleep wise as the rains pounding their tin roof keep them awake. No pleasing some folks! I'm doing the getting up earlier bit by PM I'm out of it the humidtty is too high to do much except sit still. My biggest decison each day is at what point at hoem do I take the bra off - wet sodden yuck, but then putting clothes back on a wet sticky body is just as awful, 3-4 showers a day and I am never dry. But I knwo I'll be like my Gambian friends had have mixed feelings about the monsoon. Keep cool in Delhi, sadly havent the bandwidth to watch your videos but keep blogging
ReplyDeleteI have a wonderful vision of you with big hair. I need to see a photo!
ReplyDeleteCoping with the heat and humidity at this time of year is not easy and the constant fluid intake is always a challenge. I think that's why I lost so much weight, I was too full of water to be able to eat but it helped me to survive. The throwing buckets of water over yourself and not bothering to dry trick can give a few minutes respite