About six months ago, I mentioned that there are laws regarding the heat and air conditioning availability in China. Basically, it reads: Those who live above a certain point can have heat from November 15 to March 15. Those who live below this point can have air conditioning for the same time.
Needless to say (hopefully), this communist regulated climate control is not even close to adequate. It was cold in Beijing long, long before November 15. And it now seems like it will remain cold long, long after March 15. And even while the heat was allowed, it wasn't enough to defrost my apartment that had reached an arctic level many weeks before it kicked on.
However, I'm currently realizing that while the heat provided was far short of sufficient, it did help. Because life without it is, once again, unbearable. To sit at my computer brings out the blue tint of my more than pale hands. When I go to bed, I can't sleep in any area that hasn't been previously warmed by my body. So I basically get in bed, and stay whichever way I land for fear of some extremity freezing off during the night. I've awoken to more than one ache or cramp.
So basically, I'm missing the assuredly already arrived Louisiana summer. I'm missing flip flops and flowy skirts. I'm missing snow balls and crawfish boils. And I'm refusing to continue wearing my bulky winter coat.
