Baby, it's hot outside

After having lived in Vancouver for a good 17 years, I had grown accustomed to 25 degrees being a hot summer day, but since uprooting myself over to Toronto I have had to reconfigure my ideas around what the word "hot" means.

Last week we had a heat wave here that saw temperatures at 33 or 34 degrees celsius with the humidity making it feel more like 44 degrees. Basically it's the kind of weather where upon exiting the shower you could spend the entire day towelling yourself. At some point, you just have to declare yourself "dry" and move on with your day. It's the kind of heat where if you open your mouth outside for just a second your tongue shrivels up into a raisin.

I can deal with heat, but humidity is another beast entirely. Still being new to the city, I wasn't exactly sure where to go to escape from this heat. The park certainly didn't help, even in the shade. The heat makes the city seem more daunting. What was once a short walk had become what could seem like an endless trek across the desert.

Heat waves seem to draw out all the people without air conditioning at home and distributes them at public/private institutions around the city. It would be interesting to see if the level of users of the library or mall shoppers spiked during heat waves. It could be good for business. So I found myself wandering the giant Eaton Centre mall downtown or lounging in the public library. I went into one city building and they even had a sign up that said "Emergency Cooling Centre". I should have gone to check it out, but I didn't. What goes on in there? Someone comes around with a block of ice and rubs it on the back of your neck?

Perhaps people in warmer climates will read this and roll their eyes. I'm sure I would; but for now I find myself sitting all day in my underwear watching the ice melt in my water.