Outside, it's as if a slow-motion button has been pushed. The few foolhardy souls in the near-deserted streets are walking almost gingerly, as if the pavement itself were on fire. A middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt is idling along on a bicycle. There's a woman wearing what looks like a tea towel on her head, but no matter, this isn't a day for fashion judgments.
Even the traffic is moving at a snail's pace, although there's no gridlock in sight. At a building site near my house, the entire workforce seems to be on an all-day smoko. I can't really blame them; no one's doing much work today, apart from, perhaps, icecream shops.
Back inside, my dog is panting like an over-hyped metronome. I wish I could unzip her thick black coat. She'd better off at Taronga Zoo, where the keepers have been hosing down their charges and feeding them frozen carrot puree and meat iceblocks.
The evening, according to forecasters, will be "hot and unpleasant" in Sydney, with temperatures hovering around 30C and no respite until midnight, when a cool change, they say, will come through. I say, bring it on.
