Heat Wave

Golly Gosh, it is hot!

Who would have thought that moving from South-Africa to Austria, we would have such hot weather. I know, that when we first got here, when it was cooler, people always used to ask me about S.A. and I always told them how glad I am to not have such hot weather...well, it has followed me!

Our house is an old farmhouse with 60cm thick walls. We have no air conditioning, but each morning from 5-6pm we open all the windows, and the same procedure at night. During all other times all our windows and doors are closed ( curtains drawn ). Supposedly it keeps us cool for the day. But how can you disprove such a thing? All I know is that by the end of the day, I crave fresh air....!

When you drive around during the day here in Eisenberg, it looks like a ghost town. Each house has its shutters closed. In the beginning I thought that each house was forsaken and maybe for sale.

The other night, we had all the windows open ( and the front gate! ), lights off and TV on. I was lying on the pulled out couch in my pyjamas, and Bob was playing on the computer. At about 9.30 pm, in the middle of watching a Murder Story on the box, a stranger stuck his head through our window " Hi, do you know where your neighbour is? " Well, I thought I was going to have a stroke! A little bit frightened and embarrassed ( in my pyjamas! ) I hopped about looking for a phone number. All the while, the stranger just leaned on our window sill and waited.

When we got him the number he went away, and Bob and I waited 2 seconds and locked our gates and shut our windows...This taught me two things: This is a safe place to live, and to always wear a bra when the windows are open...

Biggi