Heat - a hot topic

 It's hot and not the best weather for wearing wigs or makeup. In the last couple of weeks, temperature records have been broken in several ways and we are expecting a serious heatwave this weekend in southern Europe. I have been doing very little because anything too strenuous is actually unpleasant at the moment. 

I've written on this subject in each of the last few years since moving to the Med but the fact is that here in July it's always going to be hot, 30C and more even at night. I try not to run the air conditioning till shortly before bed (so I can fall asleep in a temperature that's more conducive to sleep) because it's expensive and gives a false sense of ease, as well as contributing to the overall problem of manmade climate troubles. To cool off, I prefer to drink hot tea than eat an ice lolly as the latter only chills your insides whereas the 'glow' the tea gives you is your natural way to cool off. I say 'glow' on the basis of the old saying that only horses sweat, whereas gentlemen perspire and ladies merely glow. I am a lady, after all!

I did once experience 45C heat in Central Italy way back in 1988, the first year I myself realised that the climate was off. The best thing in such cases is simply to stay cool indoors with blinds or curtains closed. It isn't just laziness and gluttony that results in a 3-4 hour lunch break for businesses where I live but the fact that working in the high heat of early afternoon is not desirable. Mornings and evenings are more conducive to productivity and health. A workman died of heatstroke in Lodi, Italy, the other day, which illustrates how careful one has to be. Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

My ceilings here are high, my floor is ceramic, and my home is designed to counter the excesses of summer. Frankly, I don't go around the house in much more than my bikini at the moment. And no, I won't post a photo!

I haven't had any alcohol for a fortnight, as that exacerbates the effects of heat. It's had the knock-on effect of helping me lose weight: nearly another kilo (2 lb) since last writing on Monday. And thanks for the thoughts and encouragement from those who commented then on weight loss.

In the evenings, I'm enjoying the starry sky and I get good views southwards over the sea. Scorpio is dead ahead just after dark at the moment; you couldn't see all the constellation when I lived further north in London but I can now, it's stinger curling out of the waves.

My chicory has put out even more of the pretty flowers that I mentioned last week. But so far this year I haven't had any little animals visit my plant pots, like Laura the Lizard who lived with me for months last summer. They will come, though, I'm sure.

Laura the Lizard 2022

Music to dress to

I've been doing a bit of work helping a musicologist log the uses of stock music, the sort that's written, played and recorded for a one-off fee and then sits in a music library for any registered library user to use as desired. It's a less a common system now, I believe, and royalty arrangements are more complex than they were 50+ years ago when media companies used these libraries regularly. This does not mean that the music is poor quality, it's just that the composer was prepared to accept a one-off fee and give up their copyright. 

I came across one familiar piece from my childhood, by well-known composer Johnny Pearson (who conducted the orchestras on Top of the Pops, Cilla Black's shows and other such musical extravaganzas). It's the 'Dopey Dinosaur Theme' from brilliant kids' show Vision On that was also the 'lift theme' from the wonderful Mary, Mungo and Midge, a really beautiful animation series with long episodes (15 minutes!) for 3-4 year olds that I adored when I was very small. Both those were made by the BBC but the music was also used by CTW in the USA for it's Nancy the Nannygoat animations in their fantastic show Sesame Street, which I believe is still going. As an aside, the care, thought and dedication by production companies and presenters making children's shows on a shoestring budget when I was small was heroic and I still have very fond memories of these lovely programmes that were fun as well as educational. It's a pity that archiving bulky videotape made production companies wipe many episodes of classic shows - it's a big issue in this research project I'm contributing to.

Anyway, to get to the point, Vision On was a very visual show, an art magazine particularly intended for deaf children to enjoy. One presenter, Pat Keysell, would accompany her explanations with sign language. Many other sketches involved word bubbles appearing above the characters, giving kids time to read them. The rest was making and showing art, or short cartoons or presenters lunking around. That said, they had a huge mix of music for those of us who could hear well. One episode is here and ends with a young Sylvester McCoy (in his pre-Dr Who and Hobbit days) enjoying a dance with Pat Keysell, first as duplicated dancers (not such an easy effect in those days) and then thoroughly enjoying themselves in reversed roles. Sylvester McCoy in a pink dress with frothy petticoats having a ball on a superbly conceived show is the best thing I've seen this week. I can't find a separate clip of that but a whole episode is here with the dance sequence starting at 22:04, Sylvester's frock entering at 23:14. And, by the way, the Dopey Dinosaur is at 15:20. Enjoy the show.

 Sue x