Back to the grindstone, again

I've been back at work now for a week and half a day. The fact that I'm already talking in half days probably expresses pretty well how motivated I am after 4 weeks holiday. One of my workmates and I have already gone through the remaining calendar for the year, looking for short weeks and public holidays. It's not looking good.

 

We have had some incredible weather this up here up north. Over Midsommar we had the exact same temperature that we had for Christmas, so it wasn't looking promising for the summer holidays. We had booked 2 weeks on Crete and it's always good weather there for us. So we figured that we had half of the holiday season covered. However, we weren't quite prepared for it to be equally stinking hot when we arrived back in Norrbotten. Stupid hot, actually. It's nice for it to be warm and sunny but once it crosses nto the area where it affects what and when you can do things, then it's no longer fun. The main problem was the high levels of humidity and that's something I have always struggled with. On Crete we had the same temperature, but a lower humidity level. So I was able to head out for a run pretty much any time I wanted. Within reason, of course. I had bought a small water flask which fastens to your hand, and that was a godsend when out in the Cretan hills.

 

Anyway, the last 3 weeks back home were tough going, with temperatures consistantly in the high 20s. The problem is that Swedish buildings are built primarly to retain heat, so the indoor temperature kept climbing right through the evenings. My biggest issue was when I went back to work. Our company, despite having one of the largest group of staff in town, has one of the worst office buildings in town. Ventilation is virtually non-existant which means that it swelters in winter and winter colds are transmitted like wild fire. I was back at work for 3 days before I decided that I had enough of working in a 29 deg indoor temperature. There's only so much back sweat that a person should have to put up with. So I packed up my computer and documents I was working on, and announced that I was moving home until things cooled down to a reasonable level. I was kicking myself for not thinking about it sooner. Things weren't a lot cooler at home but there I could at least work naked with the doors and windows open.

 

I don't dare try that at work as they are rather fussy about windows being open.