Turns out that we bought our air conditioner on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the air conditioner. There must be some synchronicity in that.
They say the heat is breaking today. Thank God. We had a good night last night sleeping in the computer room (which has the air conditioner) but yesterday was very hard on everybody, with the humidex heading into the mid 40s. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: 43'C dry heat is easier to take than 43'C humidex.
However, we accomplished a lot. Erin went into the University of Waterloo's New Quarterly offices and helped work on that literary magazine. I retreated into a nearby Second Cup and spent four hours and three cups of coffee working on Fathom Five. I added at least a thousand words to the word count, and I think the story is within striking distance of completion.
I may or may not finish the first draft of Fathom Five in the next couple of weeks, but whatever happens in the next couple of weeks, my focus will shift to laying out the Trenchcoat Farewell Project. Yes, we're finally moving forward on laying out this project after two years of writing and collecting artwork. Three stories are still unfinished, and a half dozen will have to go without illustrations, but that's still far better than we were expecting when we started, over two years ago. It's going to consume much of my free time in August, but I'm looking forward to it.
I'm surprised that yesterday's post about drive-thru windows attracted so many comments, but I guess this shows how much of an impact these devices have on our lives and our cities. Drive-thru windows are a symbol of our fast food culture, and they're often lightning-rods for urban protest. They can even disrupt the flow of pedestrians and cars travelling down the street (My nearest Tim Hortons has been known to block car traffic as line-ups spill out of the store's parking lot). It might be time for me to just say no to drive-thrus.
Bag O'Wicks points out that if everybody got out of their cars and stepped inside the store for service, the lineup within the store would be correspondingly longer, but he's forgetting that the drive-thru window always has at least one person on duty, running herself ragged gathering the bags of food and tossing them out the window to waiting drivers. If she were allowed to rejoin her comrades at the counter, she'd help deal with those extra crowds. No, until they provide us with drive-thru washrooms, I think I'll be eschewing drive-thru windows. My service comes just as quickly if I get out of the car and stretch my legs, reduce my smog and save my gas.
I've got to do something to make up for the energy burnt by my air conditioner.