The temperature has been flirting with triple digits for weeks now and finally crossed over on Sunday. And yesterday?
108 degrees.
Just when you think life here can't get any worse.
I stayed inside. Even the dogs wouldn't venture out. The air was classified as "unhealthy for everyone" and when you stepped outside it smelled like the toxic stew of Bako was fermenting. And pity my poor boyfriend. He had to work outside yesterday and by the time he came home he wanted to commit hari kari. It was so hot yesterday you couldn't even get cold water out of the tap - the underground pipes were baked. I took a shower without even turning on the hot water.
And the humidity! How the hell is it that this place is humid? It gets nearly zero rain and there hasn't been a drop in months, and yet yesterday it was like Miami in August. What the hell is up with that?
The return of the heat has also brought the return of one of my pet peeves about this place, the first of many. I'm talking about the obscene waste of water. It's absolutely criminal.
I've ragged on Bako for stealing water from up north, but truth be told all of Southern California imports it's water. The difference is that everyone else seems to be abundantly aware of how precarious their position is. The good people of Palm Springs realize they live in a desert and make do with front yards made of rocks and cactus. In LA the water restrictions are so draconian you can only water your yard a handful of hours a week. But here everyone seems to believe they have the God given right to turn their front yards into an Amazonian jungle, and if it means leaving the sprinklers on for 5 hours, so be it.
And they do.
I've taken the dogs out for a walk at 7:30 in the morning and all the neighbors have their sprinklers going full blast. When I've left to run errands hours later, they're still going strong. More people still choose to water in the early afternoon when the heat is so intense the water never even hits the ground, instantly evaporating into the blast furnace air. The end result is that though the lawns all appear lush and green, it's all for show. They're usually so waterlogged they're more kelp bed than lawn - step on it and you're likely to sink in up to your ankles.
Now that I think about, I believe I've discovered the source of the humidity.
