It's officially the first day of autumn tomorrow but, here in the Med, the hot days of the last seven weeks continue unabated. I love the heat, as I've said so often, but even I like a bit of a change to cooler weather, even for just a day or two, from time to time, just for variety (hint). Apart from the wild thunderstorm a fortnight ago, it's been unvarying. So I lie around reading books in my bikini (no, sorry, no photos!). OK, I do other stuff, even the boring washing up (!), but it's not the weather for a lot of exertion.
My books this week include a gorgeous edition of Jane Austen classic, a horrifying science bestseller (Ultra-Processed People), and a book on LBGT love (Altricorpi) that I mentioned a review of a few weeks ago. I'll talk about the latter two in due course but today, just look at this lovely edition of Sense and Sensibility from Chiltern Publishing:
Being a trans person, as I've said before, is not just about the clothes. My home is full of things that are associated more with femininity than masculinity. That feels right to me. This book is beautifully bound in floral decorated hard covers with gold edging on the pages. It's lovely to read, resting chunkily in the hand, as a real book should. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. I also bought their edition of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. It's so lovely in every way that I plan to buy more books from them. And what girl doesn't love a classic romance anyway?
Hot flushes
Thanks to people who commented on my last post about nightwear for hot nights. I must check out menopause nightwear. One of the main reasons I moved from cool, rainy, cloudy Britain to the warmer Mediterranean was because I developed an odd health problem in that I am cold in the day but too hot at night. Upright = cold; horizontal = hot. I've had no end of medical checks to see what's up: could it be a disease like lupus? or a circulation defect? or a vitamin deficiency? No doctor could work it out so in the end they reverted to the centuries-old suggestion of moving to warmer climes, like Robert Louis Stevenson or Paul Gauguin who went to the Pacific in the nineteenth century for similar reasons. Where I live now on the Italian riviera the typical winter temperature is 15C and in summer it's 30C. The lowest I've ever noted is 8C and the highest 36C. That's all fantastic for me, but cooler nights in summer are becoming an issue.
Cute news
The beaches are still pretty full. (And are very regimented here to fit everyone in!)
I treated myself to lunch today at one of my favourite places to eat which has a lovely view within a palm grove.
But the cute news is that leatherback turtles, which are somewhat endangered, have been laying eggs on beaches here for the first time, right among the sunbeds and beach umbrellas. They don't normally do that this far north but global warming has changed their lifestyle patterns. Local environmental agencies provide protection and the eggs are hatching now, the first clutch at Laigueglia a few days ago. It's so lovely to see all the little turtles hurrying to the water as fast as their little flippers will carry them. There's another nest just five miles up the coast and Hatching Day is expected to be on Monday. Here's one video of the recent event.
Mama Turtle there got 43 live young and they all made it to the sea. I have no egg-laying capacity, nor even a womb. I wish I did but nature has her inscrutable ways. I wonder if there are trans turtles? Given how many species display trans tendencies, I suspect there are. Anyway, good luck to these little ones in a hostile world. At least they've got a hard shell to protect them.
Sue x
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