The temperature in Ottawa at 21:00 Z was 30.4 degrees Celsius, which is 86.4 degrees Fahrenheit and not cool by any stretch of the imagination. The Humidex was 40 Celsius, 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The air is so thick I feel as if I'm wading through it, and my trachea slams shut with the first hot breath of bus fumes on Rideau Street. I'm running on talcum powder and asthma drugs.

This is the third big heat wave we've had since Victoria Day, and it's expected to last the rest of the week. Summer's not even half over.

The morning news on CBC started out with Gurment Grewal and his campaign expenses but quickly segued to the weather, which is apparently "excessive" (their word) all over Canada -- pissing down in BC, floods on the Prairies, stinking hot across Ontario and Quebec, and heavy fog in the Atlantic provinces.

Did someone insult the Weatherman? Would he or she please apologize?