Category: Life

bookmark_borderGoodbye for now. I am going to enjoy some quiet time in my garden. (As if.)

Posted on by Christine Elias

We’ll be travelling to the U.K. in a few weeks, and I’m determined to pack lightly.

I have never been an especially strong person, but now as I settle into middle-age — when does that start anyway? — I absolutely cannot carry a large suitcase up stairs and on and off trains. And we will be on a train! I love trains…

And so, this post was supposed to be about some packing tricks I learned on YouTube and about the electric train we’re taking from Edinburgh to London.

But then I googled middle-age, and now I don’t feel like typing with my aged, wrinkly fingers anymore. According to this one website I visited, I will be middle-aged for just a few more months.

I thought I had five years left! I mean I don’t think it starts at 55 like this article says — but surely it doesn’t end there!

  • Mature (55-70):Your kids are young adults or grown-ups and you’re finding comfort in neutral colours. Retirement is on the horizon and you’re looking forward to some quiet time in the garden and the grandkids making an appearance.

Does not having kids extend the period for me? I’m not ready, or interested in, being a “mature” adult. (What kind of dumb euphemism is that anyway? Mature sounds like I am plant that has reached is full height or something.)

Goodbye for now. I am going to enjoy some quiet time in my garden. (As if.)

bookmark_borderFeeling Hot Hot Hot…

Posted on by Christine Elias

July 4 was the hottest day on Earth in over 100,000 years and two weeks earlier — on June 19 — our air conditioner stopped working.

Not that we heard it making any untoward noises giving us any indication it was going to conk out — it’s on the roof. I had never heard of rooftop air conditioners used in residential settings before — but I knew commercial buildings had them. I mean, I knew we had something pumping delicious cold air into the house, but out of sight, out of mind.

two rooftop ac units
This is not our roof, I don’t own a drone — but you get the idea.

Well, turns out we have two! Since the house is so tall, we have a furnace in the basement and one on the third floor. And so, there are two AC units on the roof.

One of them is still working, so the basement (where we never go, there’s just a small storage room down there, so at least Danielle’s camping equipment is comfortable) and the first floor are cool. The second floor (where we have our home offices) is not too bad, but the third floor (the bedroom) is not a fun place to be these days.

I don’t really care how rooftop AC units work — but I really care if they don’t work!

I imagine it will look like this, with me anxiously pacing inside.

So there are lots of things I could be writing about (and linking to) today — but this is what you’re getting. I am no mood to write about anything funny when my hearing aids are melting in my ears.

The good news is we’re expecting a quote today. And then hopefully then the company can schedule the crane.

Yep. A crane.

I have no idea how the company will organize a crane on a narrow one-way street with no driveways in Little Portugal. But my guess is they will need a Street Occupation Permit.

Is August supposed to be very hot, too?