Luksusmuija Pariisissa: A day of almost 40°C

This week has been the hottest one during this year in Paris. And I truly hope we don't get a new record anymore... Monday afternoon the temperature reached past 30°C but Tuesday and Wednesday it luckily stayed under that. Yesterday it got to 32°C again and today it is probably the hottest I have ever been to in my life, when Accuweather forecast said it was 39°C in the late afternoon. And lucky me who gets to cycle through that heat to go to work! Or not so lucky... I do prefer riding the electric city bikes compared to taking trains because the trains are like saunas in the summer and now we also have to wear a mask in those. Unfortunately though, I just didn't have a chance to take a bike today on my way to work. All the well-working electric velibs (the city bikes) were taken before me. That is always the down-side. You can never know if you'll find a not-broken or not-out-of-battery e-bike.

Luckily it got cloudy in the afternoon
but unfortunately the thunderstorm
never came. Rain would be needed.

Today I was sweating already before going anywhere when the thermometer showed 28°C in our small apartment. I would like to buy our freezer full of ice-creams but it is so tiny that I can barely fit one package in between other food. I also wish French super markets would sell single ice-creams like they do in Finland. Here the smallest box includes 4 cones so I cannot go and buy one to eat when walking on the streets. The only things to keep our home cooler are our small machine blowing cool air (and in the winter it also is our source of the heat) and the upstairs neighbor's balcony that nicely creates a shadow over our glass door. Our landlord in the next door has worse luck of having no balcony above his back door. That is why we often see his "iron curtain" pulled down to prevent afternoon sun shining straight inside.

Our small "air con" is the only thing that
keeps us a bit cooler at home.

Having this kind of "iron curtain"
for doors and windows is very
common in France. I am used to
think these are for stores, not homes.

Anyway, I survived the work today, and there are also some positive sides of the hot weather. I could wash two rounds of laundry because the first batch dried up before the second one was washed. A perfect day to wash also our blanket. In addition, our chili seems to like getting lots of sunshine because after 2 months of waiting it is finally turning red! I was already giving up the hope it would ever change the color because the biggest one has been 15-20 cm long for weeks and weeks. Nevertheless, our chili is almost the only nice thing in our garden now. The leaves have dramatically fallen down during this hot week and the grass is getting even more yellow, losing any greenness in it.