How was the blistering heat wave on Monday? Unbearable wasn’t it? It was a scorcher in Pietermaritzburg, 36 degrees centigrade in Hillcrest and a little cooler in Kloof [35 degrees]. Even in the shade, it was 34.
You wish you were like the Drifters or the Rolling Stones under the boardwalk with your lover.
If you were in your air-conditioned home, office, or car you can thank your lucky stars.
But if you were anywhere else you would be looking for a tree to shield you from the scorching sun.
About the worst place to be on a blazing hot day is a car park at a shopping centre.
Dripping with perspiration and grimacing with discomfort, you trudge across the treeless, burning tarmac at a shopping centre, your hands full of Black Friday bargains.
Huffing and puffing and panting, you eventually reach your car. When you open the door, a gust of hot air hits your face. Your prized possession is like an oven. You could have almost fried an egg on its bonnet! You have to turn on the air con for a while before you enter the car. As you catch your breath you wonder what madness drove you to go shopping on a blistering hot day like this. You got caught up with the American sales gimmick of Black Friday.
The car park is hot like the Sahara Desert. How you wish it had some trees.
Sadly many car parks at shopping centres do not have trees. Trees? Ah, no, we do not plant trees but erect buildings.
We have air-con to keep ourselves cool. It is so much more effective than trees.
And so deforestation continues unabated around the world and cities grow and grow to accommodate the burgeoning masses.
Only pig-headed men like Donald Trump will deny that human activity is not behind climate change.
T MARKANDAN
***The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media or IOL.***
Daily News