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The heatwave
SO, HOW'S your week been? Hot enough? The ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun, but Melbourne, and beyond, this week was like some kind of mad punishment from above.
The mercury in Melbourne hit 45.1 degrees yesterday afternoon — the first time temperatures had soared above 43 degrees for three consecutive days since records began in 1855. The city reached its maximum at 4.27pm, as thousands of Melburnians continued to flood beaches, cinemas and shopping centres in efforts to remain cool.
The heat set a record for the city after three days of broiling conditions: 43.4 degrees on Wednesday, 44.3 on Thursday and 45.1 yesterday.
Temperatures are expected to drop for the weekend, with a forecast top of 35 degrees today, 33 tomorrow and 34 on Monday.
Cold showers, suddenly, were good, not evil. At suburban public pools those arriving after work — or after dinner — tended to wander dumbstruck and zombied to plop in feet-first like lemmings.
Lifesavers were on duty at beaches after dark. By Wednesday night the crowded St Kilda foreshore resembled the Ganges at Varanasi. Overnight on Thursday a small tent city sprang up just past Brighton.
It was the intense heat that did it. People found all sorts of ways to cope. Yesterday it reached 45 degrees about 4pm — before quickly cooling down within an hour, the heatwave over. But last night the chaos continued, with further power cuts and train cancellations.
The week has been our hottest known. It was the first time since records began in 1855 that there had been three consecutive days above 43 degrees.
Those with pools made new friends and were reunited with old ones. In Sandringham, one pool owner had what she reckons was "easily about 150" green native parrots lined up around it on Wednesday and Thursday, trying to get a drink.
Many fell in as they leaned down towards the water; eight drowned. She rescued about 30, got them dry on her deck and saw them off again, into the wilting trees.
In these extremes, in the sweat and the difficulties and tempers and relentlessness of it, normal ways dissolve. On Thursday night on the No. 86 tram, a woman cooled herself by pressing a just-bought, refrigerated steak to her chest. Fellow travellers were not disgusted, they were jealous.
Air-conditioned hotel rooms all over town were snapped up.
"We picked up 20 rooms on Thursday evening, with the majority coming in late as a walk-in or making a last-minute decision," Ibis general manager Sharron De Bono said. "They were all asking, 'Is the whole hotel air-conditioned?
The Southern Star observation wheel is shut until further notice after the heat buckled internal struts. The train tracks near Jolimont famously twisted in the heat this week, an amazing feat.
The hottest recorded temperature in Victoria was 45.8 degrees at Avalon airport, near Geelong, at 5pm on Thursday.
Staff took hourly breaks, at which fresh cold water was liberally supplied. Schoolchildren on a holiday program at nearby Lara played Monopoly inside — instead of cricket outside — and were doused with water mist from spray bottles by those looking after them.
At Nhill, in the Wimmera, it was 45.3 degrees on Wednesday. Shops shut early. A town festival for today — involving heavy machinery and open paddocks — has been cancelled.
A&P Society secretary Wilma Grosser said the funeral of a 90-year-old local farmer yesterday was well-attended and the church was "very pleasant" — due to the air-conditioning. But many mourners declined an invitation to the cemetery afterwards, due to the heat.
In Elwood, a woman slept in her garden, wearing a nightie and a thick layer of mozzie spray. When she woke as the temperature dropped a little she put a towel over herself and went back to sleep.
A Melbourne city office worker put freezer packs down her shirt for a drive to work. Two nannies from Toorak took five children to the museum yesterday, but the underground car park was full by 10am.
In South Yarra, at midday yesterday, a shop assistant on a day off poked her nose out of her flat and felt a strange cold breeze. The source was a shaft of air emerging from under her neighbour's door — the air conditioning. She crouched down and slid her fingers under the door, keeping silent, enjoying the moment.
What can you do? Get by, anyway you can.
A Brunswick psychotherapist was over it by yesterday. She went to a cinema complex and saw five films back-to-back — starting at 10.30am and leaving 13 hours later. "It even got a bit cold in there during Gran Torino," she said. "I had to put my little cardigan on."
Source: The AgeI wonder if im lucky to have escaped the heatwave or i'd rather be back there getting toasted!
