Respite From The Heat

Here it is, just after 7 am Monday morning and we are enjoying a spell from yesterday's incredible heat.  The photo is of the small electronic 'weather station' which sits in our lounge room which was taken this morning (Monday).  For much of yesterday (Sunday) the outside temperature was around 40° while the humidity level was in the mid 20's.

Outside there was a strong north westerly blowing bringing the hot air down from northern Australia into our homes.  The pool water temp headed towards 32° and the water level dropped quickly as the evaporation rate increased across Sunday.

Around 6:00pm Sunday night we had a 'Melbourne cool change'.  The humidity went from 25% to 60% in a matter of minutes as the cooler south easterly wind off the ocean took over.  By 8pm we were down to around 26° and able to open the place up to let the cooler air into the house.

Our air con sat on 26° all day Sunday giving us respite from the extreme heat. It had been almost as hot on Saturday too with strong north westerlies blowing.  Overnight Saturday it only had got down to around 26°  This morning the minimum was 20°.

The cooler air allowed me to turn the bed room ceiling fan off around 4am this morning.  Today we expect more cooling strong winds and a top around 28°.

So what else has been happening?

The main car is back in the garage.  The ignition lock only turns around 1 time in 30 or so.  It also seems the keys are well worn too.  I managed to get the car to start on Friday afternoon and took it straight to the garage for repair..  So it is either repair the ignition lock barrel and cut new keys or get a replacement from Hyundai.  The former should be substantially cheaper than the latter!

Needless to say another brew has been bottled.  With the extreme heat and strong winds, bike riding has been off the agenda the last few days.

We enjoyed a great night at our nice local Vietnamese on Thursday night with another couple.  The neighbour over the road provided me with another litre or so of alcohol so some short of stock has been replaced.  He also grabbed a 'new' TV box which I have now set up and is running well.

Trish is back into full swing with the Arts Centre.

We are in the process of getting quotes to have an air con installed in our bedroom, just preparing for when one of us to be confined to bed for some reason and to remain cool.  Our "St Andrew's Care" group can subsidize the purchase and installation.  But we are grabbing a couple of 'outside' install quotes as well.

Computer Club was back underway again on Saturday and the morning was spent catching up with friends.

Our internet provider Bigpond told us the special deal of $80 per month was no longer available and they were going to increase our download limit but also raise the price by 25%.  As a result we have adjusted our ADSL Broadband plan and now get unlimited download and $15 worth of calls for the same cost as previously and remain with the same provider.  Bigpond (the internet provider) have $15 per month worth of landline calls as a special Pensioner Discount which we now use to cover the few monthly landline calls we may make.

I did have to pay extra amount to remain 'off contract'.  Otherwise I would have been locked into their deal for 2 years.  With the NBN due to be available here in 12 months or so, I wanted the freedom to be able swap providers for a better service deal if possible. I am now free to do that.

We have easily survived the heat wave weekend (thank heavens for the air conditioner) and are now looking forward to a stretch of more normal 30° or so maximum temperatures.  25ml of rain would go also go well.