author heads up

[akk]

The last four weeks more of less brought writing to a screeching halt by flooding my place with very humid heat (think temps around and above 30°C and humidity above 90% - basically, it felt like you could walk tropical fish on a leash). I just don't function in hot weather; and wet hot weather is worse. I edited an old GR fic to stay sane, but that's far from done, too, and on hold again.

Today it's finally cooled to a more normal German summer - so I hope writing BAU will commence... soon-ish, once the heat-induced headaches cease. Normal German summers also lack enough ice and snow. Darn.

On the plus side: I switched browsers from Chrome to Edge and found E to work a lot smoother, despite porting all the plugins, and I like the inbuilt editor and the collections features: very helpful for writing.

Comments

[solo]

Have you ever considered getting one of these:
https://www.amazon.de/Mobile-Klimageraete/
?

[akk]

I have one of those with a cooling volume calculated for four times the volume of my room, bought in the year after I had to flee from a heatwave to Scotland, and carefully maintained since it keeps me breathing, but that's not enough to keep my head functioning.

[solo]

Ugh, that's really not a good situation!

[akk]

At least, I don't have to fear for my life when it gets hot for longer than a week; so that's a big plus - after all, this year I wouldn't have been able to run. But summers are flagged as "unproductive" in my personal calendar. There's a reason I try to get everything important done between October and May. Productivity in summer is just unreliable. :)

[elbales]

Ugh, I'm so sorry. Boo, hiss to excessive heat and humidity! Wish I could mail you a climate generator that would keep your apartment at winter temperatures. Alas, there is no such thing (and I probably wouldn't be able to afford it anyway).

[akk]

It's a lot better since sunday (and sorry for the late reply, I've been catching up on housework that got delayed "till cooler").

While I'd love to get winter in my house, I wish more for you to have clean air (or top of the notch air purifiers at least). The news about all the fires and the air quality in Calif. are horrible. I hope you're doing okay.

[elbales]

Yes, I'm okay, thanks, although my allergies are definitely worse than usual. Even my husband is experiencing stronger headaches/migraines. At least I don't have asthma! My friends who do have it are really suffering. :(

ETA: Also, because we're on the ridgetop with the ocean about two miles to the west, we get enough sea wind that the smoke doesn't usually settle here too badly. But the people down on the east side of the slope are seeing much worse air quality. Because of the topography of the SF Peninsula, cities along the east-west highway that's lined up with a gap in the coast range of mountains also get terrible smoke coming in from the fires to the south of me.

[akk]

I think when street address decides on breathability of the air (and ash fall), something is very wrong. :(
Esp. after all the fires last year. It's not as if this is a 2020 specialty. I'm glad that you have mostly breathable air, but knowing that it depends on strength of breeze in the right direction must be stressful.

[elbales]

Street address has always had a lot to do with healthy air and clean water. :( Sometimes that's natural, like with the mountains and the presence of the Pacific Ocean a couple of miles away, and sometimes it's entirely human-generated. If you ever feel like you're feeling too good and you want to be more depressed, Google "flint michigan water" or "grays ferry benzene." The US has a lot of work to do.

[akk]

Sadly, I don't have to google that. It's been in the news over here as well - as a cautionary tale about a state not doing its job of protecting its citizens.

In contrast, the EU is currently suing Germany on behalf of its citizens because too many of them are exposed to street and railway noise levels exceeding the recommended health thresholds; a second case is about the excess of fine particulate matter in the air on too many days per year (usually close to the same roads and railways). The cases tend to become expensive for a member country, so actions are usually taken fast (albeit with lots of politicians complaining thus adding to the noise). ;-)

[elbales]

Go, go, EU! *\o/*