Hot Hot Hot

If you've been reading the big blog lately and have noticed the time and temperature, you know that summer has started in Hong Kong.

It's 9 pm Monday night and still 29 degrees -- that's a balmy 84 degrees Fahrenheit. A week ago, we turned our air conditioners on for the first time, and I suspect they'll stay on until sometime in September.

Read that again: They'll stay on until sometime in September. That's a lot of conditioned air.

This is one time it pays to be going bald. My head should be nice and cool.

To top things off, the rainy season has started, too. We had an amber rain alert yesterday, which basically means it has rained heavily and it might rain more heavily, in which case a red rain alert will be issued. I'm waiting for the black rain alert which, if it happens to come at, say, 8 am, means I can stay home until it stops. There's an elaborate set of rules -- more like laws, I suppose -- that govern the going to and coming home from work when the rains and the typhoons come. I can't expect a snow day in Hong Kong, but if I get lucky, I might get a rain day.

(I actually don't want a rain day, as it means that the rain is so heavy that there will probably be land slips and sink holes and other wonderful things like that. Plus, it doesn't mean that I'll have any less work to do...)

Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the US. Enjoy your day off! And I hope it isn't too hot.