July

 July was hot, very hot. August is going to be hotter!!  

I read an article the other day asking when did summer in Japan get to be so miserable?  The article talked about the fun that was had by everyone a few years ago, trips to the beach or pool, summer festivals or just going to the park. Now those activities are more like an endurance test.  A lot of the summer festivals go on until the evenings, many concluding with spectacular firework shows.   This year, however, a lot were washed out because of sudden thunderstorms or attendance wasn't so high because it stayed hot until very late at night.

I feel sorry for the kids. Summer is hard because they have so much homework but at least they used to be able to play outside with friends. My husband said that when he was in junior high school he and his mates would ride their bikes all day!  That just isn't doable nowadays.  I've noticed the small park near here is very quiet. Until it got hot I could hear kids playing on there, now it's quiet, just the cicadas making a noise!

For myself changing my attitude has helped a lot.  I want to get things done but wasting what bit of energy moaning about things isn't going to help me at all.  I've accepted that summer is hard on my body so I do what I can when I can.  The main living area has air conditioning so I can manage to keep that clean.  The toilet, bathroom, corridors, and stairs are harder. There is so much cat hair everywhere, during the other seasons I sweep every day and mop every other day!  Now I get Christopher to do it.  Toilet and bathroom are early morning jobs.

I've told myself that it's okay to spend most of my day reading or sleeping.  The house isn't too bad. The yard needs doing, maybe early morning I can sweep the walkway and pull a few weeds. The other house will have to wait a bit.  I'm planning on going on Sunday, just to drop off some of the boxes and check that things are alright there. 

My worry is this Saturday and Sunday, according to my weather app it's going to be 39C.  That is crazy. I don't know if it's ever been that hot here!

Cats stretched out in the corridor

I keep putting the cats in the air-conditioned room but they prefer the corridor.  The downstairs corridor, I think upstairs is warmer!