Heatwave

When I returned to the flat after my afternoon walk the sweat was running on my legs and my clothes had a baked smell about them. The colour is bleaching out of my light weight navy shorts. We are in day ten of a prolonged heatwave. Close to forty degrees Celsius sometimes, the mean temperature inside our flat is 32 degrees at night. Outside with the herds of mosquitos, the temperature is somewhat cooler, about twenty-five degrees C during the hours of darkness.

During this period England have won a Euros semi-final and lost a final. The young Kiwi travellers we watched both matches with in Doyles Sports bar, said the nights in Budapest were the hottest since they were in the Sahara Desert back in the spring. They spend their time here in air-conditioned shopping malls and swimming pools. An unrelated Kiwi, also watching England’s failure to surmount the final Spanish hurdle, was a tour guide from the southern New Zealand island. His group of pensioners had confined themselves to the relative chill of their hotel rooms to watch the football, rather than risk the sweltering streets of central Europe.

Tuesday past provided the worst humidity so far. Sleep felt like an impossibility. Out on the balcony at two a.m. I watched lightening flicker around the city and there was the faintest sound of thunder but not a drop of rain fell to clear the air. In May and June high temperatures lead to some wonderful, almost tropical thunderstorms. In July and August, it might be weeks before there’s a downpour. Last night I heard a man working outside with a spade at midnight. I imagined he was digging deeply into the sandy soil until he found some cool space to lie himself down in.

Where the mobile air-conditioning units used to be…

Like most of the northern hemisphere, buildings here are designed to keep heat in. The majority of Hungarians don’t have air conditioning installed at home. Portable units have sold out across the city. In the past Hungary has experienced higher temperatures on individual days or for short periods but the duration of the current heatwave, with daytime temperatures above 35 degrees, is exceptional. And although I pity the citizens, it’s no consolation to me that temperatures are even higher in the Balkans and southern Europe. All I want is some lovely cold British rain to wash over me.

The Hungarians are mostly stoical about their weather, rarely finding it worthy of mention. They have the skin to take the endless blast and some continue with outdoor sports on the hottest of days. Experience has taught them to jump in a cold shower before bed and cool their bodies down to enable sleep. I’ve discovered it’s a good method but have stopped short of showering in my clothes, which is also an effective daytime cooling solution. Just occasionally I have met a local person who detests the summer here. They form a minority of rare souls who admit to counting the days and weeks until beautiful September days come again. Or if they have the means, they escape the capital completely for lake Balaton or the mountains.

Pensioners flock to the air-conditioned shopping arcades and doze all day on uncomfortable benches. The national railway company said this week that people with heart conditions or other serious illnesses should abandon their service this July. The spokesperson said that many railway carriages were built for a cooler climate and at-risk travellers should use air-conditioned coach services instead. At the southern railway terminal, the woman in the bakery concession serves the public with a wet cloth draped across her head. Pigeons have invaded the dilapidated indoor waiting area to take advantage of the weak air conditioning. There is an eagerness in the air to get out of the hot polluted city and there doesn’t seem to be any delays because of melting tracks or similar acts of nature. If the heatwave continues, I can imagine Budapest emptying rapidly like Doyles Sports bar after England’s defeat last Sunday.

Ghosts of the Soviet Past

Who let the dogs out?