. . . your
electric-service provider contacts you to advise that your bill is too high. Huh? Are they making too much money? And,
then, when you ignore them (sorry, I refuse to set my air conditioner any
higher), they send you a follow-up e-mail, just in case you had passed out from
the heat and didn’t get the first dispatch.
So, what should I expect
from Houston in the summer? Has it always been this hot? Did I somehow miss the
temperature readings last year? This week my phone told me it was 99 degrees at
8:00 p.m. (totally my own fault for being out so late).
The good news on the
horizon (is there even a horizon, or does the sun just refuse to go down?) is
that I will be spending much of August in England. I just checked the long-range
temperature for London and surrounding areas for the next thirty days.
Temperatures are expected to hover in the 70s, and it’s sounding positively
brrrrr (i.e., chilly). But I’m skeptical; is the UK playing a joke on me, lulling
me into a false sense of weather-related security?
Either way, the trip is a
must. Not just to see my beloved family, but also to assume the role of as many
Disney characters as I can while playing with my six-year-old grand-niece. I am
usually relegated to being a servant, nanny, or generally unscrupulous person,
while Emily transforms into a variety of delightful princesses. She definitely
gets the better wardrobe. (I’m Val to her Kit in the as-yet-untitled No. 6 of The Val & Kit Mystery Series, to be published later this year.)
While in the UK, I plan
to brush up on the Queen’s English in preparation for that next mystery, which
is set in jolly old England. And in terms of weather, it’s gonna be perfect. But
just in case anything untoward should happen, I will remember to keep calm and
stay out of the heat.
