MAN, it was HOT today.Here's how I know it was HOT.
I went to the Botanical Gardens for the afternoon, in an attempt to (a) finish writing my Christmas cards and (b) finish a book I've been reading - without the distraction of my computer.
Whilst trudging through the gardens in the blazing sun, I came across a flowering tree from which was emanating the same sounds as my backyard makes at 5am. And upon closer inspection, yep, you guessed it, there was a whole flock of rainbow lorikeets (like the one shown here - and ain't that a GREAT photo??) going through the flowers. I believe they eat the nectar or something. Anyway, the point is, they don't do it quietly. At all. I heard the racket from this tree long before I saw the tree itself. On the other hand, there was a large group of school kids playing in the field next to where this tree was, so it was somewhat difficult to separate the noise made by the kids and the noise made by the parrots.
Anyhow. Back to how I knew it was really hot.
I finally managed to find a bench in the shade and sat down to eat my lunch, finish my book and write my letters. Of course as soon as I pulled out my sandwiches I was surrounded by a flock of gulls, coots and other birds. ALL of them were PANTING like dogs. I don't think I've ever seen birds do that before. At one point, one of the black swans wandered by too - and it was also panting! When the birds were through with pestering me for bread, they all wandered off to various bits of shade and plopped themselves down on their bellies. Wow. You know it's hot when the gulls are too tired to bother scavenging for food! I also spotted a starling laying sprawled flat out on the grass on its belly, with its wings spread. I thought it must be injured, so I moved closer to go have a look. It instantly pulled itself together and hopped away... and promptly plopped itself down again, wings spread! I guess this was a way to cool off.
Here's another way I know it was HOT today.
After spending the afternoon at the gardens, I met Jen and Irene and Vicky (our contact from Resource Ed) downtown at a place called the Transport Bar for some drinks. This is a funky bar at Federation Square that caters to the tourists and the hip businessmen and women of the downtown core. Yes, it was a beautiful sunny day, and the place was packed. But all the tables INSIDE, where the air conditioning was going full blast, were full. And most of the tables outside were empty. The only ones that were occupied were those in the shade.
So, like I think I've said a few times already, it was HOT.
I love it! Bwa ha ha ha ha!
