That’s what the wicked witch said when Dorothy dumped the bucket of water over her head, and that’s what Joe and I are saying now. We arrived back in Germany yesterday in the middle of a heat wave, complete with sufficating humidity. After being shut up for two weeks, our top floor apartment, especially the bedroom, was sultery, and it’s a testament to our exhaustion after 17 hours of traveling that we were able to fall asleep in it.
Today I’m back at work, and through a lucky coincidence, I happen to have the only air conditioned office in the institute. Germans are not the devotees of air conditioning that Americans generally are. At DLR only the labs are usually cooled. Even the cafeteria doesn’t have AC; on hot days they turn off the lights, close the blinds, and sweat through lunch. My office used to be a lab, so I have an air conditioning unit on my ceiling that doubles as a heater in winter. I’ve heard a nasty rumor that the AC in the other building isn’t working even in the labs, but I haven’t been over to investigate personally.
The up side of this is that we can all go home early on particularly hot days. An email went out this morning reminding employees that the work day officially ends at 2:30 when the temperature at the near-by airport reaches 29 C (84 F). That’s where it currently stands, although I’m pretty sure Lorenz doesn’t care and we will leave at the normal time. Not that I’m complaining. I’d rather spend the afternoon in my nice cool office than at home. Sorry Joe.
