Soooo.... warm...

[BBP]

I found the heat to be more bearable in the south of France than it is here, because of the dryness (and Mistral). Never been below the A61, the road by Carcassonne (where I chipped a tooth and first learnt about thumb screws.) I did visit the Provence a lot: Les Baux, Avignon, Orange, Arles, Aix-en-Provence... Would love to go back there sometime...

Meh, 2016 was worse - in June we had more than twice as much rain as normal- the local playgrounds had to be replaced because the monkey bars had gone loose, there were gigantic puddles everywhere, and to add insult to injury there was that horrible hail storm that miraculously caused no deaths but obliterated every roof in Luykgestel... there were hail stones of 5cm in diameter in my backyard. It was terrifying!

[Tawmis]

The heat and broken air con cost me two dead fish.

[BBP]

Aw, poor fishes...

Last night I woke up to a thunderstorm. And so our second heat wave of the year comes to an end, not a moment too soon!

[Tawmis]

Aw, poor fishes...

Last night I woke up to a thunderstorm. And so our second heat wave of the year comes to an end, not a moment too soon!

Good news, is AC is fixed. And it's 1pm (hottest it usually gets) and I checked with the wife, and the tank is at 82 degrees, which is where it should sit (as opposed to the 94 degrees due to the AC being broke). I have cups of water that are frozen to insert into the tank to help cool the waters if something like this happens again.

As for the thunderstorm was it for rain? Here in San Diego we get a metric ton of electrical storms when it's super hot and humid.
Dark video of a San Diego Electrical Storm.

[BBP]

Oh wow that's a great vid...

Brought back memories... when Dad and I visited Grandma, it wasn't the greatest weather but it was warm, so we spanned a large piece of plastic on the balcony's clothing lines so we could sit outside. We could watch the electrical storms, which was very impressive!

[Rath Darkblade]

Sorry to hear about your fishies, Tawm. Good to hear that the AC is fixed, though. *thumbs up*

BBP, glad to hear that the heatwave is finally over! Why did you have to span a big piece of plastic on the clothing lines, though? I'm confused.

As for us in Australia's south, it's cold, windy, and dry every day... stupid winter. Farmers are suffering from a drought and we city-dwellers can't help them. It's been a very strange winter's week - three days of very cold, then today and tomorrow pretty mild (between 16-18 C or 61-64 F), before temperatures plummet again and the rain returns with a vengeance for the weekend - we start at 5 C (40 F) and will only reach 13 C (55 F), tops. Plus lashings and lashings of rain. Brr.

But why am I complaining? I'm sure that winter gets much colder than that for you in the USA and the Netherlands, right?

[BBP]

You can trust a Dutch summer about as much as a Dutch winter. There's no telling if it will be cold and frosty or surprisingly mild.

It's rainy! Hurray!

We spanned plastic over the balcony so we could sit outside. It was raining.

[Tawmis]

Sorry to hear about your fishies, Tawm. Good to hear that the AC is fixed, though. *thumbs up*

Yeah, I am better prepared if this ever happens again.

[Rath Darkblade]

Is the heat any more bearable, BBP and Tawmis?

(Oh - and how is Odin bearing up in the heat?)

[BBP]

Yeah, it's rainy now, which is how I know my Dutch summers!

[Tawmis]

Is the heat any more bearable, BBP and Tawmis?

(Oh - and how is Odin bearing up in the heat?)

It's been windy today so the heat is not as noticeable. But California continues to burn everywhere with wildfires out of control.

But that's, sadly, the norm.

[el_pombo]

I would like to extend this recommendation to all forum members...

https://www.rt.com/news/436162-colombia ... -heatwave/

[Rath Darkblade]

Well, this looks inappropriate. Government official invites people to visit Moscow park - and boasts that people have had sex in the park, and that they (the government) have tapes of it. (Um!)

Are we about to see Russia's Craziest Government Videos? Probably not... still, this smacks of bad taste all over.

Back to the discussion about the hot weather... yikes. California has burning wildfires out of control - and where is the federal response to do anything about it? Tawm, your post about CA's wildfires is the first that I've heard about it. I know I'm only a "damn'd furriner", but even the news here could (or should) mention CA's wildfires. All I hear is silence.

Is the WH doing anything to help CA is its time of need, or is Mr Trump more concerned about 'the enemy of the people' (i.e. the media)? I'm confused.

(One last thing, and then I'll shut up. (Hooray!) On the morning news here, some academic or other said that the phrase 'the enemy of the people' was made up by Stalin. Not true - 'An Enemy of the People' was a play by the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, about 40 years before Stalin even came to power. Ironically, the play was about how artists trying to say new things and being shouted down by 'the people' - just as some members of the media now try to say something about Trump, only to be yelled down by his supporters. Depressing).

Oh well... don't mind me. I'm just thinking over here in Aussie-land. We're still allowed to do that, apparently (although there are quite a few of our politicians who'd rather we didn't...!)

[Tawmis]

Well, this looks inappropriate. Government official invites people to visit Moscow park - and boasts that people have had sex in the park, and that they (the government) have tapes of it. (Um!)

Probably pouring through it to see who they can blackmail...

Back to the discussion about the hot weather... yikes. California has burning wildfires out of control - and where is the federal response to do anything about it? Tawm, your post about CA's wildfires is the first that I've heard about it. I know I'm only a "damn'd furriner", but even the news here could (or should) mention CA's wildfires. All I hear is silence.

Every Summer, California burns. Majorly. Without fail.
That's probably why you don't hear about it. It's just too common at this point to be considered "newsworthy."