Without the advent of airconditioning to many countries in Western Europe, we face nature.
Our apartment, as much as we love it is behind the times. It faces east on one side (so nice!) and south-west on the other (gor-geoussss)!! We get direct sun from 2PM onward till sunset, did I mention the gorgeous sunsets (?) at 10pm around the summer solstice.
In combination with the spartan use of A/C, we are suffering with the behemoth mosquitos (yeah, they're normal sized...)
I was taken back to my childhood, to the days where my south-west-facing bedroom and high-to-the-ceiling bunk bed had me sweltering through my "sleep". I'd often use a wet cloth on my forehead to keep cool(er). I'd wake with a puddle on my pillow. Not sure if it was because of me or the cloth...
None the less, my dear father had the forethought to install screens into our ancient windows to give us some peace from the war-call-sound that Mosquitos wage in the wee hours.
We are not so lucky here! We have no screens!
Around 11PM when the outside temperature is finally lower than the inside temps (even if by a smidgen) we crack open the windows at last. I won't delve into our neighbors' dirty habit of smoking and talking on the phone at all hours of the night on her balcony next to our open bedroom window - I'll just say - we had lots of chats and some midnight yelling (in Canadian rudeness of course - i.e. a desperate "pleeeease stop" at 3AM ...).
But back to the nature woes: Damn mozzies. I hate them. But I have one small glimmer of hope: my Husband is juicier than me! And he hunts mozzies like a mad man! It's quite the sight! For the first time in my life I have slight relief as long as I stay close to him. Fancy a heat-of-summer snuggle sweetie?
On the extreme crap side, our son has strong allergic reactions to mozzie bites like I do. Last time it was so bad, the swelling led to a serious infection which landed us in the in the ICU of the children's hospital. He was treated and we stayed for 24 hours of observation. That's another story - I won't get into more. Suffice to say, we H A T E mosquitos.
On the bright side, we might have found a solution in addition to the alluring air-provision plug-in solution we already use.
Stay tuned!
