Summer Heat

Over the past two weeks.....summer has finally hit upon Germany.  Yes, 95-degree F temperatures are now pretty much in effect across the land.  With it, in various areas over the past six weeks....almost no rain.

So you have pavements on autobahns and runways....buckling up.  You have employees showing up at 6 AM to do hard physical labor, and trying to get the bulk of it done by noon.

You have buses and trains running.....with marginal AC units in full operation, but delivering maybe half the cooling necessary. 

You have ice cream stands running at full maximum manpower, and doing a 10,000 Euro turn-over in one single day.

You have folks sitting out on their balcony at 9 PM, mostly in a state of undress because the interior of the house or apartment is still way too hot.  And they will likely still be there at 11 PM.....trying to cool off.

Horses stand around mostly in the field under the cover of a tree, until the sun starts to set.

People avoid cooking because it just raises the indoor temperature of the apartment another eight degrees Centigrade.

Women wear provocative clothing, and show as much skin as possible.

People start to think about buying air conditioners but their spouse starts to hype about electrical cost.

In an average summer, you might have around fifteen days of extreme heat....mostly in groups of two or three consecutive days....here and there.  Right now....it's about the ninth consecutive day, and at least five more anticipated (maybe even ten more). 

Looking for an AC-atmosphere?  You'd have to go into town....to some major department store.  Most bakeries won't have an AC unit.  From my village, I doubt if you can find more than sixty of the 500 homes/apartments with AC units. 

So the desire here is just to take it....sip liquids....put some wet towels over your head, and hope that some thunderstorm comes through to cool things offf.