Saturday afternoon and I am lying on the floor of my room
listening to the fan whirl overhead. I am resisting turning the air conditioner
on – it won’t work with the generator anyway so I have to wait another hour.
Summer has definitely arrived! It is as if it was sneaking
up on us and then all of a sudden decided to jump out if it’s hiding place.
Three months ago the bill boards on the side of the road gaily announced the
arrival of the new spring fashions. We laughed as we drove through the freezing
rain with the heating still on full blast, But, just to be safe, we joined the
hordes of other Islamabad women shopping for fine cotton lawn in brights and
pastels. Wrapped in layers of wool and pashmina, and duly rushed off to the
tailor – and then waited……
The days started to dawn slightly warmer, the roses bloomed and, the pomegranates were replaced by strawberries in the green grocer. On the weekend I was buying mine from the man who would sit outside our bakery, when I went to pick up our fresh baguettes. He also had bunches of beautiful red and pink roses.
Whenever I commented on how lovely the days were, and how nice it was not to be cold, Pakistani friends smiled and said ‘just you wait until June and July’.
This morning we set off to do our shopping as usual. With
the heat we have to adjust our strategy slightly – nonfood shopping first, then
grocery, including the milk and cheese. At this point the air con in the car is
turned on – much to our driver, Shakeel’s relief, as he waits for us – and we
rush off for the fruit and salad. Salad greens have become noticeably rare, as
with the heat, the vendors keep their perishable stock to a minimum. They are
all open stalls – no air conditioning or chilling cabinets! But we have found
one who keeps his greens covered in damp cloths which are regularly sprayed
with cold water and so far it seems to be working. Returning to the cooled car
I hand a very relieved Shakeel a paper cup of icy cold, freshly squeezed orange
juice.
SO roll on July, when I will have to devise a way of keeping
the laptop dry whilst reclining in a bath tub of cold water!!
beautiful scented roses from our garden in Peshawar. For 2 days my room smelt divine
At least my feet stay cool!
I even went as far as taking photos and emailing them to Kenya asking if they did mail order to Pakistan (a bit like sending coals to Newcastle!)
Very light weight fabric but long sleeves and trousers are still the order of the day.
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