Sssssssteam heat

Isn't it hot?

Yes, it is.

I can't believe how hot it is.

It's hot.

I'm about to melt!

It's very hot.


Today has been, more or less, variations on the above conversation. Yes, it is hot. It is also summer time, in a country where unseasonable warmth is actually seasonable. We have had hot summers before.

Apparently, though, something is happening to people's memories. I blame the media. Partly because it's convenient, and partly because it's true. No longer content to run the good old 'Phew! What A Scorcher!' stories, the red-tops and the ten-second-soundbite, ticker-tape news 'shows' have to proclaim that every successive day is now the "hottest day since records began!" Unless it's winter, in which case substitute "hottest" for "coldest" or "most amount of snow/hail/layers I've had to put on to keep my toes from freezing".

Yes, it is hot. Yes, it is uncomfortable. But your endless yapping on the subject isn't helping. In fact, if you saved your energy and just sat still, perhaps there'd be a little less hot air filling up the office. Or the train carriage. Or the toilets. (Yes, someone decided to start a conversation from the next cubicle. Fucking great.)

In case it isn't obvious by now, I'm not a fan of stating the obvious. That's just wasting words.

"It's raining." Yes, I can see that. Did you have a point? "Just that it's raining. Oh. Not sure how I could have worked that out for myself. Thanks for telling me.

Tomorrow, why not just spend a few seconds checking the weather forecast. Temperatures of at least 25 degrees centigrade, so slap on some suncream, and don't waste your energy telling the person next to you that it's hot. They already know.