Bye Bye Bur-que

I never really moved very much until 2 years ago. As a child, I moved three streets over into a bigger house where I got to have a room of my very own. As a teenager, I moved 100 miles away from home when I attended University in Loughborough. At the time, I thought this was was a thoroughly long way, but a car journey of an hour and a half meant that I could travel home whenever I wanted to. Relatively newly married, and I made the biggest move yet, the one across the Atlantic. Suddenly, 100 miles doesn't seem so far.

A little over two years ago I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I never imagined I would ever live there- largely because I had never heard of the place. Arriving at the end of June, the heat was a shock to the system. In my experience, if the temperature was ever over 85 degrees, it was because you were on holiday in Majorca and you were laying on a sun bed lightly toasting your skin. You weren't required to wear anything more than a swimming costume, or possibly a dress you'd fashioned out of a towel. You had your novel to read, and a parasol to hide you from the sun. But, if the heat ever got too much, you could simply walk the ten paces to the sea and cool off, or dive into the pool that was waiting for you at the end of your lounger. No further exertion would be necessary.

Suddenly I am in Albuquerque with a garden to tend to, errands to run, meals to cook, and unreliable air conditioning. Even when the temperature reached the 90's, swim wear was not acceptable attire, and in the South West Desert there was no ocean awaiting me with the promise of relief. For the first few weeks that I lived there, I chose the middle of the afternoon for pulling up weeds and mowing the lawn, all of the time wondering why our elusive neighbors were never anywhere to be seen. I turned on the oven in our little adobe and baked chicken or potatoes all afternoon long, only to wonder why it was hotter inside than out.

The following summer and I had learned some of the lessons that had come so easily to everyone else. Gardening is started before 7 am, and promptly finished by 9. Salads or grilled meat really is the only solution for summer dining, and you certainly don't pick the middle of the day to get all of your errands done. On the contrary, the middle of the day is time for hiding out indoors and keeping out of the sun. Never mind parasols and novels, I developed the capacity for seeking out air conditioned buildings rather than sea water for respite.

Our time in Albuquerque seems to have served as training for me. Lessons were learned in preparation for a move to even hotter climes. Three weeks ago, in a jam packed car and in good company, I made the journey to Las Vegas, Nevada. The journey was relatively comfortable, and with the A/C keeping us at a reasonable temperature I forgot about the 15 degree difference in temperature between Albuquerque and Las Vegas. I forgot about it until the moment we approached the Hoover Dam when I was suddenly reminded. I rolled the window down at the security check point to be blasted with the heat. It comes from the sun, and the ground, and the rocks and it hits you.

I'm thankful to Albuquerque for teaching me some survival skills, especially as I haul my pregnant belly around. September 27th, and it is 102 degrees. Wedding bands went from fitting as usual to impossibly tight within a day. Time hiding out indoors starts a little earlier and ends a little later. You choose your parking space based on the position of the sun, and the likelihood that you might get even a touch of shade. I keep asking people when it will cool down, but no matter how often I ask the question, I can't seem to get an answer.

"Oh, it's already cooled down dear."
"No, but I mean when will it get cooler?"

The question hangs in the air as they smile at me and give me a funny look. I'm hoping that it will happen in October sometime. We'll see what life lessons I learn during our time in Vegas. Surely next time we move it will have to be somewhere cooler. Maybe there will even be oceans and parasols involved.