Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Greek tragedy

The last couple of days have been a punishment borne down from Helios - the temperatures in some parts of Greece peaked at 45°C (113°F) degrees yesterday, and the day earned the honor of the hottest day of the year. Athens and other prefectures aided citizens by opening air conditioned centers for those that aren't so lucky to have artificial cool air pumping into their homes.

Unfortunately, an elderly couple faced the heat head on. The husband died, most likely due to heat stroke, and the wife is hospitalized. Ironically, the couple has air conditioning, and when asked why they weren't using it, the woman said they never turned it on for fear of freezing. I suppose overheating never occurred to them. Keeping it on a high temperature of around 30° could have been enough to save them without being too cold. Poor woman.

Luckily, the temperatures have taken a slight turn for the better (well, after the past couple of days 90° looks pretty damn good) and hopefully we are done with heat waves for the summer. As long as I didn't just jinx it.

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