We certainly have some exciting disasters going on this summer, from heatwaves and forest fires to tsunamis and tornados. And in the face of chaos a girl like me has her cute disasterwear firmly on.
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| That's not jewellery, those are ultratech crimefighting gadgets |
I mentioned a forest fire on the hill I live on a couple of weeks ago that required the intervention of a helicopter. This week we have a much bigger fire on the mountain above town that's already been burning for three days and has two helicopters and four Canadair tankers dealing with it as well as firemen and volunteers on the ground.
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| Canadair tanker heading towards the fire |
Given that the thermometer in the coolest, shadiest outdoor spot of my home reads 36C (97F) in the afternoons, I don't know how those firefighters have been coping in the blazing sun on a bare mountainside (apparently about 42C, or 107F). That's truly heroic. Although an absence of dwellings there means no-one's in danger, it also means a lack of roads and paths means they have to scrabble around the steep, broken landscape on foot. The tanker planes fly endlessly, filling up from the sea, flying up to the fire and dumping their load before returning to the sea, again and again and again from dawn till dusk. (We won't go into apocryphal stories of scuba divers found lying in the charred remains of burnt forests!)
The smell of woodsmoke is everywhere and the chains of flames creeping over the crest of the hill the other evening was eerie. I hope they can get it out very soon.
Last week there was a lot of seismic activity in the Med (they've also discovered three new undersea volcanoes, so maybe the earth felt like having a celebration!) So we were greeted by this unusual, dead straight wave 1-2 metres high that stretched all along the coast as far as we could see. My neighbours and I reckoned was most likely due to underwater seismic activity, a mini tsunami if you will.
The
heatwave this week has been breaking records in the region. More
seriously, people have died as a result and others have been treated in
hospital for it. It should end at the weekend. At least, we hope so.
I cope better than most with heat but I have to confess that it's not easy at night. Thank goodness for the beautiful outdoor pool just below. And for my lovely microfibre underwear that I bought from Marks & Spencer's when I was last in the UK. Their pretty but practical bras are ideal and their microfibre briefs have been my touchstone for 20 years now. In this heat they are very light on the skin and mould to your contours. Recommended.
It always puzzled me as a kid that, when the going got tough, male superheroes put on extra armour, bigger protective capes and filled their utility belts with extra special gadgets. Whereas the superheroines seemed to lose clothes in the face of danger and fight in just a bikini and cute boots. Admittedly the bikini is radiationproof and bulletproof but it still leaves vulnerable areas... like most of the body! Even as a child I sensed there must therefore be something decidedly more heroic about the women than the men! So I guess if I'm going to combat natural disasters, this underwear will have to be the outfit. It's just too hot to wear anything else!
A dip in the archives
It was ten years ago that Emma and her wife came to London and we went to see the Cutty Sark sailing ship. I have some favourite photos from that day.
Sue x
Sue, I do not know how you cope with those temperatures. You must indeed have superpowers... or a matching set of ice cooled undies.
ReplyDeleteThe climate situation does not seem to be improving - unless you're a lizard or a fire elemental - but I guess we can only try to do our bit too help. Less meat, less air travel, shop responsibly, etc.
Fab photos from back in the day, BTW.
PS l: the superhero cartoon made me chuckle. There's a similar one from a D&D magazine with a barbarian warrior in just a leather bikini. Her wrist bands and peppered with arrows. The caption is "luckily my armour saved me".
On that note, there's a spoof of the Avengers Assemble poster, where the artist draws the men in the more sexist bum to camera view.
Conversely, a comic fan fed up with the above double standard redrew a number of female heroes in more suitable clothing. TBH, they looked a lot more realistic and cool.
Usually you see a character in such high cut pants, I wince, thinking "that's going to be a painful wax" 😁
Thank you, dear Lynn, for all your comments.
DeleteI've always coped with heat quite well; it's the cold I can't bear. That's the main reason I moved from the UK to the Med. That said, the heat is a bit much this week and the trick is simply to take things slowly. As for the climate, we knew there was a crisis looming back in the 1980s but nothing worth speaking of has been done about it and nothing continues to be done about it. As an individual, I don't run a car, I'm aware of what I buy and I don't waste energy, but, in the grand scheme of things, without a significant change in the way the world works, we are heading for bad times ahead.
Thanks for all the additional info on superheroines with sartorial inadequacies. I recall a series of practical costumes for female characters who fight. They were dull outfits and anything but sexy but you could see that in a serious fighting role they would work way better than a steel bikini.
Sue x
Dear Sue, I do not know exactly where you live now but I hope this fires will be under control and you don´t have to inhalate this smoky air. Your journey to the past shows nice pictures. I also love to look back sometimes and remember the old pictures I had taken from me.
ReplyDeleteAll the best and have a good time
Violetta
Thank you, Violetta. It has rained a lot these last few days so the fires are out and the weather is not so hot. I'm glad you liked the old pictures. Sue x
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