A heat wave in Prince George is something magical to behold. When the thermostat reaches above 30 degrees in our fair city, everyone is happy and frantically watering their lawns and gardens and basking in the UVs. On the second day, the grocery stores are packed from people buying watermelons, frozen lemonade and hot dogs for their camping trip to one of our beautiful lakes in the region. On the third day of the heat wave, everyone either leaves town or hides in their basement with the curtains drawn and the lights out.
"Why is it like this?" cries my husband after he comes home from work to a soggy, hot house. Our east-facing home is perfectly situated to get the maximum amount of sunlight pouring into our living room. We have beautifully large windows that make our living spaces bright and cheery, or, at least, we would have a cheerful home if it wasn't so flippin' hot.
To survive in this weather, we close our curtains and sit in a dark, hot house and move very little until it starts raining again. We are not sure if our house has too much insulation, not enough insulation or just poor air flow but all heat seems to congregate in our living room and our bedroom making a good night sleep virtually impossible. Of course, we do have two children who enjoy being up at all hours of the night so that might be a contributing factor in our sleepless nights. Before we bought one of the last air conditioners still in town, our attempts to stay cool involved an elaborate dance of jumping into a cold shower right before bed and then praying that we would fall asleep before our hair dried. Now, with A/C, our life is wonderful. We have a cool haven in our home and we have enough energy to actually go out and enjoy the hot weather because we know that our house will be cool.
I was telling my husband about the heat waves when I was growing up and how we used to go to the video store and rent seven movies for seven nights and then sit in the basement watching the entire Planet of the Apes series or all of the Bruce Lee movies until the weekend came and we would go camping. A heat wave while camping at a lake is awesome. If you are too hot, you go for a swim or you have a nap or go for a walk in the bush and pick blueberries.
Victoria and Vancouver don't ever seem to get this hot. Even when the temperature is higher on the coast, it feels hotter in Prince George because there is no breeze coming off the ocean. Who needs the ocean when you could have an air conditioner instead?
Stay cool, Prince George, and enjoy the heat while it lasts.
