Dear Poor Áine -

If it hadn't been mentioned above I would have thought of 'Lord Franklin' - certainly the coldest song I know. But what about 'The Last Leviathan'? Also pretty cool, just don't cry too much, this will be water plus salt.

I am sorry to tell you that where I'm living I (I!) am enjoying an exceptionally cold, rainy summer while smiling at people who complain about that (until now, at least, but I'm thankful). I enjoy warmth but I hate heat, especially when it's moist heat, and it's always moist here.

My trick against heat that becomes too annoying: If it's below 97°F (body temperature, I hope I've calculated correctly) I prefer resting in water to moving in air. The thermal conductivity of water is much higher than that of air so the heat in my body can much easier get out of it, and this cools me down some way I enjoy the warmth of the air afterwards. It doesn't work with a shower, only in a bathtub, and one also has to be very careful with this method: It's effective enough to cause some real shock when applied too quickly! Seriously - we had some strange fatality here which was supposed to have been caused by exactly that - your heart might simply stop beating and never start again. So never try to cool down that way hectically!

If it's moist heat your suffering of: If the air doesn't move make it do so. A fan blows away the cloud of steam that always surrounds you (thus of course increasing the humidity in your room but that will happen anyway if you stay there). And there are also air dryers which won't lower the temperature but freeze out the steam in the air. They work like a refrigerator without the box around it but a fan attached instead and a bucket underneath. Another means to make sweating worth doing it.

BTW - do YOU need a privacy fence? :-)

Joerg