It's Getting Hot In Here

It has been another steaming hot week here and I am sick of it. Currently inside my apartment it is 30.5 degrees and much hotter outside. My cooler broke down a few weeks back and as I don't drive or have a car I haven't been able to get it fixed. I haven't slept very well for a few days because it has just been so hot all day and night. I can't really open up my apartment at night for fresh air because I live right in the middle of a busy street in an inner city suburb of Melbourne that is one of the trendy/rough areas. So I am surrounded by expensive townhouses (OK, I live in one too) and in juxtaposition to this, the commission flats (cheap council housing).

All sorts of crazy things happen in this area, a couple of months back I was watching TV in bed when outside my bedroom window I hear a bit of a kerfuffle then "This is the police, drop the gun and put your hands up". Last Saturday night I was walking home and got caught up in a vicious street brawl outside the flats, I tried to cross the road to get away, but then the brawl crossed over the road at the same time, only ending when one of the guys was knocked unconscious, at which point I made a dash for home. When I walk to work at 7.30am, the drunks are waiting shakily outside the pubs for the 8am openings, the pay phones are always occupied by people yelling into them and the street corners have groups of guys with no shirts on them selling drugs.

I don't have a problem with this, I enjoy the diversity of the people, but without a screen door, I don't feel safe leaving my front door open. There are more good people here then anywhere, but unfortunately there are a few troubled people too and I need to be careful. Don't get me wrong, I am not judgemental of the people in this area, my family came from a similar area before we moved to the country when I was young and my mum and gran live happily in one of the roughest suburbs of Melbourne. My family grew up very poor and at one stage we had our names down for council housing, though the waiting list was too long so we had to find other arrangements.

So what does all this to do with dieting? Nothing. I am just avoiding the topic... It has not been a terrible week, but it has not been a good week. It has been too hot to do any exercise, apart from walking to and from work. I haven't really cared because it has been a bit of a tough week. My closest friend's father is dying from cancer and it has been heartbreaking to watch. I have been working really long hours at work to make up for the time I will need to take off to go and stay with them over the next week or so. I am right in the middle of the busiest time of the year at work, a time that I am not supposed to take any annual leave, but these things happen.

Dieting has not been a priority, but I have managed to stick to my "No Takeaway" rule. Last Friday was the first Friday I did not order a takeaway for dinner for months! It doesn't sound like much, but that was a big achievement. I have been trying to break that bad habit for ages and have been unsuccessful.

Anyway, it is too hot to sit at this computer for a second longer, I am going to have another icy cold shower and then go and lay on the couch and watch a movie and try and keep cool.