| The Evil Sun |
[Aug. 24th, 2019|12:52 am]
rejectomorph
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I am assuming that Chico still exists, and its population has not yet expired from the heat or fled to cooler places. My block is still here, and at least one building in North Valley Plaza, the top of which I can see from my mailbox. But the main indicator is that I have been hearing traffic all day, including a great deal of it on the freeway. Now it's true that Chico could have been entirely depopulated and there could still be traffic on the freeway, since it connects to other places, but if Chico has been deserted then they left their lights on, as I still can't see any stars tonight for the glare of city lights obscuring them.
Of course I can't prove that Chico is still here, since I haven't seen any of the rest of it since Wednesday, and now that the traffic has diminished for the night I don't hear it either. But I'm guessing it is still here. Whether or not it will still be here when I next leave this apartment I can't say, as it currently looks like that won't be for a long time. The long range forecast is still predicting highs in the nineties and above through September 6. That will be a Friday, and it will be only 91, so maybe I'll be able to go out then. But I'm going to be so out of shape from lack of exercise by then. You can't get much walking done in a one-bedroom apartment with a tiny back yard.
Right now it's still 80 degrees outside. I don't open the windows and turn on the fan until it gets down to about 75. Had I not been burned out of Paradise that's probably the temperature I'd be enjoying now, as it's usually at least five degrees cooler than Chico up there all summer long. The ridge is probably done with triple-digits for the year, and the first week of September would be unlikely to rise out of the eighties. What luxury!
The latest PG&E bill came today, and it's the highest I've had since moving here, but not devastating. At just under sixty bucks it's considerably less than I'd have been paying in that large, poorly-insulated house on the ridge, despite the cooler climate at that elevation. I don't know what I'll do with those extra bucks, though, since I can't get out to spend them. Maybe I should order a pizza, and let somebody else get out in the heat to deliver it to me. Not tonight, though. I've been feeling too lousy to enjoy pizza. Maybe I'll microwave some popcorn and put lots of butter on it. Maybe I can clog my arteries enough to get a fatal heart attack and not have to go through a second summer in Chico. |
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