Digital cameras are fun. Alas catching a picture of a really good bit of lightning is pretty much impossible. Any sort of lightning at all requires mucho patience (or possibly better camera settings...)
Still, hopefully a nice storm will clear the air and make it a bit less hot and humid.
Well, it seems that the meltingly hot weather which made the working week such fun has done the traditional British thing of fleeing the moment the weekend arrives. This rather steps on the Lj post I was going to make along the lines of: So, it's only a week until I get to flee this stiflingly hot weather for the south of France. Where it will probably be even hotter, but at least I have access to a swimming pool. And more importantly, where I don't have to do any work (except in the likely event that there's some fruit which needs picking...)
Yesterday actually started well, but took a rather sudden turn for the worse in the form of a torrential thunderstorm. Amusingly, this happened just as I scurried into the cinema to see Stormbreaker. More amusingly, the drenching I got as I headed home afterwards showed up my prophetic choice of T-Shirt: "Dry is not an option" (from Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom - where it, in fact, doesn't really apply. The Kali River Rapids at the Animal Kingdom would be much more appropriate - but I digress). Less amusingly, I'd cunningly left several windows wide open in the hopes of letting some cooling breezes in, and instead came home to find my kitchen pursuing a new vocation as a paddling pool.
The hottest part of yesterday, naturally, was while I was having a haircut - being trapped under one of those lovely keep-all-the-hair-out-but-all-the-heat-in plastic sheets was somewhat akin to being roasted alive. Still, there was the novelty of wearing pyjamas to bed without risking heatstroke (this is why having houseguests in the heat of summer is a risky business) - although hiding under the covers as well was clearly a mistake, given that I woke up in the middle of the night severely overheated.
I really hate it when the weather gets multiple personality disorder around this time of year. One day it's nearly summer, the next it's almost winter - not a good thing when you have a fairly narrow comfort range of temperatures. Mostly it's playing havoc with my pitiful attempts to sleep. Winter is fine - the heating is on, so the temperature inside stays fairly stable and I can just hide under the thick duvet in my Pyjamas. Summer is less good, but fairly easy to work around - under or on the thin duvet, with or without clothing (and if it gets really hot, open the window). Right now, however, one night I wake up sweating like a pig because it's too hot under the thick duvet, even sans nightwear, the next night I wake up shivering under the thin duvet despite re-donning my PJs. it's just not fair!
It might not quite be summer yet, but it's close enough for me to hit the salad bowl, and my house salad goes something like this: Start with some lettuce, I've usually used iceberg in the past, but that's more through force of habit than because it's any good. Next, add some sweet pepper for crunch - yellow or orange ones add some colour, but green or red will do. Add some tomatoes - I've mostly been using cherry tomatoes or similar, because the slices you get out of normal-sized ones are just too big, and because it's easier to get flavourful small ones. Now for some meat - a couple of slices of ham (chopped) - Sainsbury's have some new seville orange-topped ham which is really rather yummy. And then some more meat - a few inches of dried sausage (the sort that's about an inch in diameter, not your big salami), thickly sliced. Finally drench it in home-made vinaigrette (3:2 ratio of extra-virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, a good dollop of wholegrain mustard and salt & pepper to taste. No need to make it every time, I make up a fresh batch in an old Snapple bottle every few days). Toss, then enjoy with something bready on the side.
Cor blimey, it were fair parky this mornin'. It's bad enouigh trying to persuade oneself out of bed at quarter past seven in the morning without one's limbs being frozen off the moment one pokes them out from beneath the duvet.
My copy of wilwheaton's Dancing Barefoot finally arrived. Apparently I was one of the unfortunate people whose orders went astray. Anyway, I'll be pushing that onto my stack of Books To Read.
And finally, in another not to my cunning purchase timing, Apple have just revised the iPod with bigger disks. Ah, well. C'est la vie. etc. I would GIP, but the GI is on my PC at home so I can't P it.
Update: GIP! Oh, and they updated the iMac too. Must resist...
Well, the excessive heat continues to ... er ... continue. I'm not sure exactly how hot it is, as my Galileo thermometer only measures up to 27°C and has been off the scale for weeks (although it could be hotter - Mum's reported temperatures up to 41°C in the shade at their place in the south of France). Thankfully, my freezer is well stocked with Ben & Jerry's from the last time that Sainsbury's had a sale, so I have been able to do something to combat the heat. I've been largely inactive (outside of work, at any rate) this week - reading books and watching DVDs are two activities requiring little effort and hence suitable for the current climate.
