Hot Child in the City

Summertime in Washington can be oppressive enough. The city is built upon a swamp, and its obvious. The heat index has been over 100 consistently with no signs of letting up.

To add insult to injury, my air conditioning suddenly decided to take a vacation last Wednesday. A quick call to the the company that services it revealed that they couldn't schedule us in until Monday. Luckily, I had already planned to escape to the shore over the weekend.

On returning to the city yesterday, I was excited at the prospect of having chilly air returned to my living space. I waited all afternoon for a repairman who didn't show up. It seems, in talking with friends, that this is a common occurrence in the district. Apparently these companies aren't aware of the urgency involved or that fact that we have jobs that expect us to be present.

A call to the company revealed that the technician had been in a car accident. Now I realize that I have probably won some kind of bad-person-of-the-year award for not inquiring about the condition of the person, but I was suffering heat exhaustion, I believe. After insisting that I not be rescheduled, I was informed that someone would be out that evening.

When the repairman arrived, I was jubilant. The heat had taken its toll on my brain, I'm certain from the little dance that I did. He was pointed to the roof to inspect the unit. Thirty minutes later he returned. "Well, the bad news is, you need a new compressor", he told me. "It will be at least next week before it will be fixed." I was incredulous. I have always been under the impression that The Bad News is always followed by The Good News. However, these rules didn't seem to apply in this case. There was no good news.

And so it goes. I have resorted to all sorts of primitive tricks.... Leaving the refrigerator door open. Leaving the front door open to try to steal air from the building. The heat still doesn't abate. I sensing that the next week is going to be a long one....

I'd like to hear from readers on the lengths they have gone to keep cool.