We're having a heat wave like nothing I've seen in Switzerland in the past two summers, with temperatures consistently reaching 95 F (35 C), and before you scoff and say that the temperature goes higher wherever you live, stop and consider for a moment the fact that we are walking to work, sitting in offices, cooking meals, doing laundry, carrying groceries, running errands, and sleeping in these temperatures without the benefit of air conditioning. I believe in global warming, especially in the vicinity of my apartment, and if I were a country, I would sign the Kyoto Protocol.
Conditions like these drive people to seek out ways to cool down. Late night walks, wet towels, fans, cold drinks, hanging out in the freezer aisle at lunchtime, you name it, and someone in Zurich is doing it. I've spent a couple nights watching movies at the outdoor cinema by the lake, eating ice cream and catching the breeze. One movie had a lot of Ukrainian dialogue, which was fine, as it also had English, German, and French subtitles, but the other was mostly in French, and they only added German subtitles, so I had to listen to the French and read the German to get the full meaning.
I decided to eat a cold dinner on the terrace one day after work, and so I went to the (air-conditioned) grocery store to get some supplies. I took my time browsing, no sense in rushing back out into the heat, and while I was in the juice aisle, debating between the relative refreshment potentials of pineapple and pear, I saw a bottle that I had never noticed before. I picked it up, read the label, translated in my head, decided I must have missed some other meaning of the words, and asked my friend, "Is this really a bottle of sauerkraut juice?" Yes. "And people drink this?" Yes. Yum, nothing is more refreshing than a tall glass of fresh sauerkraut juice! Except, perhaps, a shot of chilled mustard.
I even considered making a trip to Ikea on Saturday (which is really the worst day to visit Ikea, since everyone and their evil twin goes to Ikea on Saturdays). I ended up not going because: 1) it seemed a bit ludicrous to go all the way to Ikea just for a few picture frames, 2) I wasn't certain that Ikea had air conditioning, and the only thing worse than fighting your way through Ikea on a hot Saturday would be fighting your way through Ikea on a hot Saturday without air conditioning, and 3) I was pretty much paralyzed by the heat, and couldn't drag myself out to go anywhere while the sun was up, anyways.
A few rooms in our office have air conditioners, which were apparently installed by the previous tenant without the proper permits, so the authorities are removing them at some point in the near future. Since we open all of our doors and use them keep the office from turning into saunas, the pending removal hangs over our heads like an executioner's ax. A very hot, sweaty executioner's ax. But in the mean time, I've actually semi-seriously contemplated bringing stuff into the office and sleeping in one of the air-conditioned rooms. Hey, that way I could get some real sleep, and I could even sleep in, since I wouldn't have to worry about getting to work!
This coming weekend is a long weekend for Swiss National Day (their version of July 4th), so a few of us are going to Dublin, where it is supposedly in the 60s. I may get to wear, what are they called, jeans? And what were those other things… oh, right, sweaters. Imagine that. Next update will probably be on Thursday, and the following weekend is my birthday (the annual hijinks are already being planned), and the weekend after that is Street Parade. And now we return to the regularly scheduled programming of sitting around and trying not to sweat…
Conditions like these drive people to seek out ways to cool down. Late night walks, wet towels, fans, cold drinks, hanging out in the freezer aisle at lunchtime, you name it, and someone in Zurich is doing it. I've spent a couple nights watching movies at the outdoor cinema by the lake, eating ice cream and catching the breeze. One movie had a lot of Ukrainian dialogue, which was fine, as it also had English, German, and French subtitles, but the other was mostly in French, and they only added German subtitles, so I had to listen to the French and read the German to get the full meaning.
I decided to eat a cold dinner on the terrace one day after work, and so I went to the (air-conditioned) grocery store to get some supplies. I took my time browsing, no sense in rushing back out into the heat, and while I was in the juice aisle, debating between the relative refreshment potentials of pineapple and pear, I saw a bottle that I had never noticed before. I picked it up, read the label, translated in my head, decided I must have missed some other meaning of the words, and asked my friend, "Is this really a bottle of sauerkraut juice?" Yes. "And people drink this?" Yes. Yum, nothing is more refreshing than a tall glass of fresh sauerkraut juice! Except, perhaps, a shot of chilled mustard.
I even considered making a trip to Ikea on Saturday (which is really the worst day to visit Ikea, since everyone and their evil twin goes to Ikea on Saturdays). I ended up not going because: 1) it seemed a bit ludicrous to go all the way to Ikea just for a few picture frames, 2) I wasn't certain that Ikea had air conditioning, and the only thing worse than fighting your way through Ikea on a hot Saturday would be fighting your way through Ikea on a hot Saturday without air conditioning, and 3) I was pretty much paralyzed by the heat, and couldn't drag myself out to go anywhere while the sun was up, anyways.
A few rooms in our office have air conditioners, which were apparently installed by the previous tenant without the proper permits, so the authorities are removing them at some point in the near future. Since we open all of our doors and use them keep the office from turning into saunas, the pending removal hangs over our heads like an executioner's ax. A very hot, sweaty executioner's ax. But in the mean time, I've actually semi-seriously contemplated bringing stuff into the office and sleeping in one of the air-conditioned rooms. Hey, that way I could get some real sleep, and I could even sleep in, since I wouldn't have to worry about getting to work!
This coming weekend is a long weekend for Swiss National Day (their version of July 4th), so a few of us are going to Dublin, where it is supposedly in the 60s. I may get to wear, what are they called, jeans? And what were those other things… oh, right, sweaters. Imagine that. Next update will probably be on Thursday, and the following weekend is my birthday (the annual hijinks are already being planned), and the weekend after that is Street Parade. And now we return to the regularly scheduled programming of sitting around and trying not to sweat…
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