Today I will be a traitor and supporting Slovenia. Why? Because today I hate being in England.
I hate the weather, the misery of up to 3 hours daily commuting in this heat, the lack of air conditioning - the cattle-cramped train carriages sticking thigh to thigh to my fellow passengers, inhaling sweat and curry fumes from hundreds of alien pores, elbows jabbing me, my knees forced up to my chest and craning for a tiny bit of polluted air from the three inch window vents, praying the driver will speed up at least to get some air in and get us to the office on time for once. If only we had a siesta time in the summer like other equally hot European countries, or could just start and finish a little earlier. Last night as I waited for a delayed train, after being delayed in the office it was still so hot I burned even through my clothes in places. Summer in the city is no fun at all.
I long to lie naked on cool, smooth black rock marooned by the incoming tide and to plunge into freezing Atlantic sea. But picturing it is about the closest I can get to cooling off. Instead I look at the hollow moon of the Millennium Wheel as I cross the river and fantasise that it could be turned into a giant fan to lend some reprieve to the humidity and heat in London, or better still to stir up a massive vortex, a worm hole to somewhere with ice and penguins and Eskimo kisses.
It's not quite the "vent" I wanted, but it helped.
