Heat

For a week or so there were a lot of flies clustering. I believe that this was due to weather weirding. For months it was too warm, and dry, so they didn’t breed as voraciously. Eventually the weather changed temporarily so there was an infestation for those with bad luck.

During this time I noticed that a fly or three tried to fly into the fridge. Flies tend to slow down and hibernate or die when they get too cold, so they might be full of enthusiasm and optimism when they fly in but once the door is closed they’re trapped. The light goes out so they think “bed time” but they also realise “Wait, this is a very cold place, and all of the food is covered so I have no food or drink.”

Recently I went out for the entire day and when I came home I had a swarm of flies sitting by the velux, two days in a row. The buzzing was loud. It’s a good thing that I am not squeamish about flies because this was the stuff of nightmares.

This summer I’ve had puce de canards burrow into my legs and die causing discomfort for a few days, I’ve gone for monday runs where midges were an issue, and recently I saw clouds of flying ants, but luckily these insects didn’t pester me.

When winters were long and cold Minergie seemed like a fantastic idea. They would turn a home into a thermos, blocking all heat loss to save on energy costs and more. Minergie does work extremely well in capturing and holding on to heat, from the sun, washing machine, dish washer and more. You might think “But those aren’t heaters” and you’d be right.

During a heatwave the Minergie thermos has a serious flaw and that is that it requires open windows. Open windows in theory, and practice are easy. Wake up, open the windows, and once outside is warmer than inside close them. Then you keep the ambient temperature low and comfortable.

Rationally it makes sense to go for a run when the sun is setting because the heat from the sun is lower. In theory this means that the body is dealing with a cooler environment.

In practice, when I go for evening rides and runs my body remains warm for hours, and that heat, during a heat wave, in a minergie building makes it unbearable.

For a few days it was cooling, and I had stopped using fans. I questioned why. I suspect that it is because when the building is exposed to heat wave temperatures for several days the air heats, but eventually the buildings’ structure begins to radiate its own stored heat energy. This means that you’re dealing with hot air, which isn’t bad. It’s when the building becomes a radiator that it becomes unpleasant.

It’s worth noting that after my historical post was deleted from a group chat I aborted my run with that group. The reasons were rational, rather than emotional. Something else came up and by the time that something was over the run had started. I also expected it to rain very heavily and storm.

Yesterday the forecast was similar but I chose not to just sit at home and miss out. I could see that a storm was coming for 18:50 and again a few minutes later. I thought “If I wait too long it will be cancelled and I will have had a second day in a row without sports. That’s why I got dressed and cycled to the shop. I said “I expect the ride is cancelled”, and it was.

Yesterday morning I set two alarms for 0600 because I wanted to wake, have some free time, and then run at 07:50/08:00 but I don’t remember it waking me. I remember looking at the phone or watch and seeing 07:53. With the heat wave making sleep difficult, followed my a music festival making sleep difficult I reached such a point of exhaustion that the alarm failed to wake me. It even failed to register in my conscience that I turned off the alarms.

This morning it felt nice and cool so I spent as long as I could ventilating before the sun heated the Southern side of the building to a point where cooling was no longer effective. I went from 30°c down to 26°c very, very fast. The Outside Air Temperature (OAT) was 18-20°c so it’s a shame I didn’t capture more of that fresh air. The Long Tail of the heat wave comes as soon as you close the windows.

Minergie is a fantastic concept for a cold planet, and to keep cool in winter. It traps heat with ease during the morning and radiates it for the rest of the day into the night. It supplements to solar radiation heat with geothermal heat, which it gets from the heat pumps. That heat is then spread across the buidling with hot water pipes.

In winter this is fantastic because it saves on energy and provides a comfortable environment. In reality it’s not unusual for me to notice 25°c in winter, so in effect it might be too warm, for some.

Waking early is great, to run when it is cooler but it does have a serious drawback. That drawback is that whilst the run might be more pleasant, due to the fresher air, especially evening and morning rain but it has the drawback that if you live in a minergie apartment you never get an opportunity to flush out warm air and replace it with cool air.

Today, as one of my suntan lotion bottles is empty of suntan lotion I decided to clean it with dish soap and water, before adding water to use the suntan lotion bottle as a mister, and so far it has been a partial success.

Today I had the pleasure of going for a run early. I had planned to run at 07:30 to finish right as the shops were opening but I felt too lazy, so I was at the shops by 08:20 and running a few minutes later. I was thinking “Oh it’s still early, so I don’t need to run with water. That was a mistake. What wasn’t a mistake is choosing a course that passes by a number of fountains.