08.11.03
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
In which the author, noting the slightly hysterical tenor of the coverage of the heatwave covering Britain, suggests suggests that we all chill out by watching something reassuring.
In which, additionally, the author is discovered pacing his residence at three o’clock in the morning, hair down and trying to balance the need to open as many windows and doors as possible against the (little) encouragement needed by burglars.
Finally, in which the lamentably uncavelike build of London housing is bewailed across the capital as light sleepers discover that their walls have absorbed heat all day long and spend the short night busily radiating it back.
In the next sultry chapter: experiments with spraying the walls with water in the evening, and the disgorgement of the household into The Tent for the night.