Connecticut, the Early Weeks: Heat Wave

The temperature here is crazy. I’m not really one to make small talk about the weather but it has been crazy hot here for the past few weeks. The first three days of this week were record-setting hot days in the upper 90’s. Jacob took a screenshot of the weather:

It was a bit warm. I just left my dear Williamsburg and thought I had left this kind of heat behind. At least in the burg I had wonderful air conditioning. We have a little window unit for our bedroom so we can at least catch some zzzzs and our only fan has been pointed at Jacob’s struggling computer these past few days.

This kind of heat, we understand, is an anomaly. No one here welcomes it or is prepared. Our local hardware stores have entire sections of shelving bare where they stocked fans and air conditioners. And to top it off, our one reprieve, water, was tainted Tuesday night.

I had walked around downtown most of the afternoon, finding relief in the air conditioned stores and museums. The second I got home I took a shower. Then Jacob got off work and went to take one too and found that the water was dark, really dark and dirty. (Sorry we didn’t get a picture of it!) It was full of the pipe sediments because so much water was being used, as we were told by the Water Authority when we called. Perhaps the holiday weekend attributed to it, lots of people were home in the heat on Monday so maybe they all just played in the sprinklers.

Just like my mom said, this heat is so unexpected that the preparations of the area residents are as lacking as for snow storms in South Carolina. But at least we can seek refuge in air-conditioned stores and libraries.