热

It’s getting warm here in Beijing. Has been for a while now. I think we’re in for a long, hot summer. It’s much warmer now than I was expecting for this time of year. We’ve had some of the spring winds already, but we’re back to still air and the murk that brings. Fortunately, although I did read a report of dust hitting Beijing a week or two ago, that report mentioned only Yanqing and Mentougou, so the dust must have passed down the outermost western districts of Beijing then out into southwestern Hebei, we haven’t had any dust or sandstorms so far.

Fingers crossed.

Anyway, we’ve been cutting back on the clothing, but not too much…. I mean, it’s really quite warm during the day, but still chilly overnight, and there’s always the big what if: What if a wind comes in off the Gobi, as it inevitably will several times between now and May. That, in addition to bringing the desert with it, will drop the temperature.

In a couple of weeks the poplars, or whatever tree they are, are going to dump their horrible fluff everywhere.

Not long after that it’s going to be torridly, horribly, suffocatingly hot.

And not long after that I’ll be escaping up a mountainside in Yanqing to avoid the Olympics hullabulloo… at least the temperatures will be close to tolerable up there.

I dunno, at least the autumn is tolerable and promises cold weather to come. Spring means sandstorms and promises only stifling heat and humidity.