Weathering the weather

Friends may have noticed my hangup with the temperature. In over twenty years of living in Paris, France, I can count hot summers on ten fingers, maybe less. We all howled in pain during the heatwave a few years back. Elders died and heat prostration overcame some of us, not me, I was in my glory. Knowing that very few apartments and homes in France are air-conditioned and most people don't even have fans is the tip-off. Although since that heatwave, fans are on sale and available but not really necessary this year. Summer is just not hot here.

A friend asked in mid-August, "Do you think it'll warm up again or is Summer over? My answer is no one knows whither the weather but judging by my past experience, I'd say Summer is basically finished by August fifteenth when the vacationers begin winding their way back home, jamming the highways. I've felt humid heat in Manilla & Singapore to name a couple of places that are not lukewarm. And how about Tokyo and Osaka? Consistent heat like I like it: up in the 90s...hallelujah! Last Spring I toured in both cities and the weather approximated Paris' but not so the summer weather. I'm vowing to spend time next summer in Tokyo or Osaka. Kind of far huh?
Maybe I'll go back to Budapest instead.

Whither the weather?

As heard in Paris:
- Is it summer yet?
- What? Where?
- Here.
- You mean in Paris?
- Ouais.
- Bien sûr, it's mid-July isn't it? Bastille Day's come and gone, n'est ce pas?
- Certainement, but you see the weather? Why, our highs are New York's lows. And let's not speak about Tokyo and Osaka. Osaka's tropical.
- Laisse tomber, you know Paris is a bowl.
- Yes, of ice cream and I'm freezing. Gelée.
- Pas de soucis...a warm front is moving in and in two days the sun will shine and the temperature rise --- au moins till the end of the week.
- Remember the heat wave? 2003?
- That was hot. Chaud, chaud, chaud.
- Des morts. People died.
- Not ready for the heat.
- No air conditioning.
- No fans.
- No wonder...
- N'est ce pas? Most of the time summer here is unseasonable.
- Je sais, in my opinion downright unreasonable.