“Some like it hot but we all sweat when the heat is on.”

I know I am changing the words and my apologies to The Power Station but this is my North Queensland version. I have the original blaring from youtube as I am writing.

Feeeel the heat buuring you up inside!!

For the last couple of weeks at our morning meetings our boss has been mentioning ‘Mango Madness’. For those not from around here, she is referring to summer or more specifically the ‘build up’. That time of year just before the rains come, when the stifling heat and humidity combine to produce a sort of summer madness. This manifests itself in numerous ways, not least of which is a general tension and cantankerous irritability. It is also the season for Mangoes (thank you Mother Nature for the reprieve) and “Peace and Goodwill everybody” as the boss lovingly catcalls to us as we exit for the day. I took what she was saying with a grain of salt, after all, it didn’t really effect us that much did it? After surviving two Darwin wet seasons and worst of all ‘build-ups’ I knew it was a real phenomenon but I thought I was kind of immune.

On Tuesday I left the fridge door open – all day. The chicken waiting to be cooked for dinner was spoilt along with the rest of the contents. Both Todd and I were hot, bothered and tired so we retreated to the air-conditioning and didn’t move for the rest of the night.

Last night as I was finishing off dinner I was feeling a bit stressed. The house felt dirty. ‘It’s just hot’ says Todd. I didn’t really have a reason for feeling stressed, and that’s not really the right word – maybe it was just hot. Or bothered. Whatever it was, I was rushing to load the dishwasher and get out of the kitchen and away from the steam of the boiling potatoes. I was in the middle of telling Todd how I just felt a bit ‘off’ and looked up to see the steaming frying pan sliding from the oven top. In a split second I thought to grab it but thankfully recoiled and let it hit the floor. The entire dinner contents lay spread from fridge door to dishwasher. Neither of us said a word. I don’t know whether Todd was mourning his dinner, or thinking of a way to make me laugh or both but we just looked at the mess in silence. I’m not sure if a tear rolled down my face or we laughed first – but it ended up a combination of both. If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen right? We did, and got fish burgers.

This morning I was giving the house a ‘lick and a promise’. This is a saying I have inherited from my Mum – I love it as it describes the in-between clean so well – a lick of cleaning and a promise to finish off, but most importantly it comes with a carefree attitude – the rest can wait there are more enjoyable things to do. The rest can wait but I did need to properly rid the floor of any dinner remnants. I was mopping away when I heard it. Rain on the roof. I stopped to make sure. Yes, there it was. The rain had come. I felt my shoulders physically relax. I’ve never been this in tune to things before but I actually felt the relief. It was like when it rains at school and the kids go crazy. I remember many times,  ‘It’s the weather man’ being our teenage slogan for summer rain delight and craziness.

Sitting here now though I have to admit the rain has not come, not yet. It was just a tantalizing reminder. The heat remains.

‘Some like it hot’ is going to be my summer anthem. Quite poignant I feel with an oven strapped to the front of me for an extended summer season.

Feeeel the heat buuring you up, ready or not.

To hell with the rest of the cleaning, I’m going Christmas shopping in the air-conditioning.