Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hot?

My co-worker kept coming into the office from outside today, wide-eyed appalled about how hot it was. (There's a freight elevator from the 2nd floor office to the warehouse downstairs but it's quicker to go outside and around.)

It was 90 degrees in New York today. I remember years ago, when I lived in New York the first time, before I left and came back, how 90 was the benchmark, the point at which it was officially unbearable, but back then nobody had air-conditioning. And I think my 4 years in Austin vaccinated me. It was for sure very warm today but it didn't feel all that bad. Not at all what I would call hot.

"Oh, man it is hot outside! I can't believe how hot it is!" she kept saying.

Hot? I'm not saying I love it, in fact it's downright unpleasant if you have to stand in the blazing sun for more than a few seconds at a time and don't even mention the subway slash sauna because that's a whole nother story. But I would even go so far as to call it mild if you're in the shade and immobile. Hot? Go live in central Texas for a few years and then come back and we'll talk about hot. It's 90 degrees. Last year in Austin when it finally got down to 90 some time in October I got down on my knees and thanked the lord baby Jesus that I could stop hiding the razor blades and shoelaces. You don't know from hot.