Summer is here – warm, lazy days, extra wine, days out with the family and friends, a holiday away. But when the temperature is persistently over 30C, I tend to wilt. Yesterday reached 39C in the shade. My Muse has gone for a protracted lie down somewhere in a cool cave several metres underground.
Enter guilt – my new story is proceeding at ‘walking through tar speed’ as my brain has melted. But I am doing catch-up admin tasks and currently hosting some fabulous fellow writers on this blog, so not totally unproductive!
How to keep cool while trying to be creative?
I really don’t like air-conditioning – on principle on environmental grounds. Although comforting for us as individuals, we are collectively shoving hot air into the atmosphere at a rapid rate and contributing directly to climate change. It should be an absolute last resort and whether public or private, it should not be set at a silly level where you need to wear a cardigan or jacket indoors in a heatwave. Around 22-23C is perfectly fine. Even 24C is bearable to work in.
So what do I do here in southwest France in a heatwave? Fans, and coolers with a water/icepack tank, in every room powered by our solar panel system, ice, free and not drawing electricity from the grid.
But the true secret is one that has been practised for centuries in mainland Europe.
6 am – Indoor temperature overnight has been about 27C, even with the fans on sleep mode as the previous evening was 31C at 11pm. Open shutters and windows and breathe the morning air – a blissful 21C! Open one window wide and draw net across to stop flying insects entering. Our windows open inwards which makes this easy. Rinse and repeat around the whole house and treasure the cooler air flowing in.
Position the fan so it draws in the cooler air from the window. The temperature in the house drops by a few degrees.
Keep an eye on the outside temperature. By around 10 am, it’s risen to the same level the house interior has dropped to – 25 C. Time to close the (now double-glazed) windows.
Depending on where the sun is, then shutters should be closed on the latch. If shutters are completely closed tight, the heat of the sun on the shutters has nowhere to escape.
Then cower in darkened rooms until the daytime exterior temperature outside drops to below the interior temperature. If it does, then re-open the windows and let the fresher air in.
Above all, do not be tempted to open the windows during the heat of the day. All you will do is let the hot air in.
This system of using shutters and fans keeps the interior temperature to a reasonable level with little environment impact. If you don’t have shutters, then close your curtains instead.
Hopefully, this current heatwave will ease later this week. Until then, think of me at 6am, slightly bleary-eyed, starting the window and shutters process!
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
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Exactly the process we used in summer when I was a child in South Australia — long before aircon was a thing!
Great advice, Alison. Keep cool. X
It works well as a system, but getting up at 6 am is wearisome. I usually sleep until 7 am. But that early hour of fresh air is vital.