Mid-week: looking back on the past days...

Each day, and especially the mornings, of this week's work days came with their special touch of magic and positive energy the pick up. And I've come to realize, that the most dreaded thing about these early mornings aren't the facts that I have to get up early, or work itself - no, it's actually the moment, when I have to succumb to social demands, by having to put on clothes, when the time has come to get out and make my way to work.

I still defy mainstream social norms by denying to wear shoes, when walking to the bus stop, riding the bus, entering the office building and spending my first hours of work... by staying barefoot as long as possible, I keep up the last bit of direct contact with my surroundings as well as the last shred of natural nudity.

My Nuddhist morning exercises, redundant as they may seem, also provided me with various different sensations on the last days, too - due to ever-changing weather and temperature conditions as well as thoughts and feelings evoked by them...

Monday:

Monday morning, 12°C (54°F) - a cool and fresh start into the week. During my moring Nuddhism exercise, I mixed up my own little portion of fog, mingling the small wisps of steam from my mug of coffee with the trails of my own breath on exhaling.

Breathing in the cool morning air that I clad my body in makes me smile with anticipation of a barefoot walk over cool and wet grass on my way to work...

(That cool and dewy grass is featured in the first barefoot picture above)

Tuesday:

Mother Nature has scheduled cloud racing this morning. With a mild breeze blowing over my skyclad body at 18°C (64°F), there are no breath fog trails or mixing my own fog with the steam from my coffee mug during today's morning Nuddhism exercise... I inhale the mild morning air, watching low-flying clouds hover past overhead, feeling my balcony's wooden floorboards beneath my bare soles.

Actually, the cloud races had a winner on that morning, too, as I could see at the bus stop a bit later:

That one grey cloud got ahead of the rest, took the lead and clearly stood out from the rest of the grey mass...

Wednesday:

Good morning, world... I just greeted the day in my usual Nuddhist way, skyclad and barefoot on my balcony, clad in cool early morning air (16°C/61°F), while stars were winking down on me...

And now, alas, it's time again to get ready to get to work. The sad part is (as usual) not work itself, but the stupid social demand of having to put on clothes...


But that initial sadness was overcome quickly, since Mother Nature decided to cheer me up not only by the nice feeling of soft grass underfoot, but by painting very impressive sky and cloud pictures on that morning, too...

On exiting the bus near the office, I beheld this:

 
And passing those trees and bushes, I was totally baffled to actually spot a dragon hovering in the sky...

If I'd have to explain in detail, where I spotted a dragon, the magic would be gone... but still: there's a head, a forepaw, a hind paw and a tail visible, too... it reminded me a lot of those typical Chinese luck dragons with their big fluffy heads, as you can see them in colorful street processions.
 
The wildly colorful sky paintings continued with another of those Hollywood-style sunrises, as seen from the office parking lot and shot out of the office window...

My daily task of spotting the special moments, the beauty and gathering positive vibes to make a nice day was very easily fulfilled by views like those and by my little daily Nuddhist ritual, too.

Work itself? Well, routine stuff, really, but without the pangs of feeling too much like a small part of a machine. Finding the balance between merely functioning and really living, between work and play, works really well at present. I like that. In act, I love it.

And since it increases my personal happiness, I will carry on with it, and follow this advice:

Sunday: Concluding the Mother Nature cloud painting series

With mostly rainy weather, the sky showed varying pictures, but I was able to spot two interesting and nice ones, one of them a classic... a piece of rainbow... actually, that was about the only motif missing in this week's set of sky and cloud paintings.

The other one is a nice example of different cloud greyscales and fluffy white before an azure blue backdrop, with early evening sun creating a radiant tunnel of white light...

Let's see what Mother Nature decides to paint in the next days to come...

Amazons - Homage to Women of Strength

I'm not sure, whether it's just coincidence, that the German newspaper "taz" features Uta Melle today, a strong and brave 40-year-old woman who has fought against breast cancer, had a double mastectomy, and uses nude photography as her art form to continually define her own beauty and femininity, after her double breast amputation. The photo above (from the press release linked below) shows Uta Melle in the foreground, with short, dark hair, together with other strong and brave women.

Since today is Go Topless Day, it's also a good day to celebrate this very special form of raising breast cancer awareness and defining beauty.

Here's the press release for the publication of the book "Amazonen" (Amazons), featuring Uta Melle and other women, celebrating life as well as beauty in a special way:

http://www.stilwerk.de/designgallery/content-img/PressReleasestilwerkgalleryAmazonen.pdf

And the link to the German article in the newspaper "taz" entitled "Femininity despite breast cancer" (headline translation by me):

http://www.taz.de/Weiblichkeit-trotz-Brustkrebs/!100304/

When facing the mastectomy, about to have her breasts amputated, she thought about what her beauty is about and if she could face society without her breasts. After an intense process of thinking, she conluded that she can do that. She then faced her husband and asked him "Do you need them?" and gave him time to think about it. As a reply, he gave her a picture of an amazon, one of the mythical greek warrior women who are believed to have cut off a breast to better shoot their bows. When asked, whether she would have decided differently, if her husband had said that he did need her with her breasts, she hesitates for a moment, but then says "Fortunately, he has different preferences... he's more of a foot fetishist and my feet are still there..."

(An excerpt from the "taz" article, translated by me)

Uta Melle lives with her husband and daughter in Berlin.

Happy Go Topless Day!

In the US, on August 26 Women's Equality Day is celebrated, commemorating the Women's Equality Act, allowing women to vote, which was passed on Aug. 26, 1920.

This year, it's also the celebration of Go Topless Day, which coincides nicely with it, since the right to go topless in public is one of the things still lacking equality.

Find out, where in the US topless rallies are taking place right here: http://gotopless.org/gotopless-day

Sunday: let's rename it to Rainbathday

Just a week ago, we had the hottest day of this year with body temperature levels in the shade... this morning, Mother Nature has scheduled rain cloud races. I just stood on my balcony, watching them zoom by, a cool breeze wafting over me at 15°C (59°C), blowing raindrops onto my nude body.

I see and feel soft and cool rain water beads on my belly, while sipping hot, strong and sweet coffee. And then, the true delight begins, as Mama Nature decides to really open the sky faucet, and a cool shower pours down onto my naked body, driven by gusts of wind. The first raindrops felt like tender wet first kisses, but this felt like Her wrapping Her naked body around mine, clinging to me, covering my body with lover's kisses, pouring Her passion all over me.

Despite the cool air, I can feel stirrings in my root chakra, and unashamedly I stand in the morning rain, arms outstretched, water dripping off my belly, pouring past my alive lingam, pooling at my bare feet...

Taking a rain bath outdoors... no bathroom shower can beat that!

Once again, I feel that there is a very clear difference between just standing in the shower in your bathroom and standing naked in the rain. While showering in the bathroom gets you clean and wakes you up, rainbathing makes you feel really alive, beautiful and loved by Mother Nature Herself.

Saturday: Mother Nature's wild cloud painting day!

Today, looking at the sky was indeed better than watching any TV or film... there's no better painter than Mother Nature, when she decides to paint clouds onto the biggest canvas: the sky.

First, I saw a very impressive greyscale cloud tower in front of the blue sky, when I exited the tram, coming home from my usual barefoot grocery shopping trip to town. And then, there was today's sunset - a first impressive hint of it above the roofs of the apartment complex where I live, then, after I went downstairs and out of the front door, westwards, looking towards Duisburg and finally, turning around, facing eastwards, towards the center of Mülheim, seeing that someone had set the clouds ablaze there, too...

These are the moments, digital cameras and the possibility to share these pictures almost real-time have been made for...

Friday - the day when rain made me happy...

Friday morning, facing the last day of the office week...

I got up at the usual early time in the morning, around 5 am, hearing the rushing of rain outside. While other people might groan and think about gloomy weather, I am really, almost violently happy, anticipating the feeling of rain-soaked, wet grass beneath my soles and splashing my bare feet in cool puddles. I feel like Björk, doing a barefoot happy dance when performing "Violently Happy" in the Reykjavik National Theatre in 1999:

Another nice proof of the various benefits of being barefoot: dancing on bare feet makes you really happy - just watch Björk smile, as she skips around barefoot on stage...

My morning Nuddhism exercise was centered around listening to the sound of the falling rain, while feeling raindrops making a soft landing on my nude belly. I breathed in deeply, savouring the scent and taste of the cool and rain-washed air at 16°C (60°F). I sipped on my warm morning coffee, watching little trails of steam rising from the mug into the cool air and wisps of steam leaving my mouth on exhaling. After the heat from the weekend before, trailing into the beginning of this week, the rainy air and Mother Nature blowing a soft breeze gently onto my skin felt really soothing and healing.

As it was time to leave my apartment and walk to the bus stop to get to work, I felt the usual little pang of disappointment about having to put on clothes, but found a little remedy in feeling the plushy wet grass underfoot, taking a little barefoot walk in my yard. I had made sure to do that, even leaving the house a little earlier to have enough time for getting in touch with Mother Nature's skin. This first fulfilment of my happy barefoot anticipation left me nicely energized, adding to the waking effect of my strong and sweet morning coffee.

Sitting on the bus, riding towards the office, I gazed at the sky, where the rain clouds were retreating to the east, seeing that Mother Nature had not used a brush to paint a sky picture, but seemed to have used pencils and pastel chalk, making a mostly greyscale cloud drawing instead of using the fiery colors from the previous mornings. However, one small hint of sunrise fire yet was visible, as a little orange was peeking through over the horizon.

And yet again, I was glad that I am not like average people, who might feel sad or depressed at the sight of rain clouds... for these clouds had left puddles, where I could splash my bare feet in, thereby fulfulling the other part of my happy anticipation:

Delighted, that these two happy barefoot anticipations had been fulfilled, I began my office day with a light mood and even was able to stay barefoot around the place most of the time, since no possible customers were around. I only donned my work flip-flops to go out of the building on my breaks, thus obeying the "safe footwear" rule for office environments. On my first break in the morning, I went to the parking lot, admiring that Mother Nature had changed her mind, concerning sky paintings... she had decided to take out her brush again and paint a very lively cloud picture with hues of grey, blue, pink and orange:

And to add an extra special to this day, ending the week of work, I made use of the regular ice cream van's visit around 2 pm, presenting myself with the slightly decadent gift of a banana-split:

And why not enjoying it? After all, our team had been able this week to annihilate a backlog of customer e-mail inquiries and almost empty the incoming mail boxes. That was worthy of a little celebration.

One colleague saw this sweet sin on my desk, and asked "Is that a classic banana-split?" My reply was a raised eyebrow, and I asked "what do you mean by 'classic'?", to which he replied: "Well, you know... with bananas...?" I was quite puzzled and tried to imagine, what a 'modern' banana split would be, instead of a 'classic' one... something squeezed from a tube, astronaut-style? A pill? I replied to him "well, without bananas, it would just be a split, wouldn't it?"

After finishing that symbol of sweet and fruity decadence, I closed the files on this week, all items on my to-do list checked and finished, and enjoyed the sunny and warm afternoon weather, walking on sunlit sidewalks to the bus stop, where I began my usual public transport trip home, surfing on happy barefoot waves into the weekend.

Fascinating feet...

It felt a little, as if Mother Nature wanted to atone for my being stung yesterday, by that hidden thorn in the grass. The grass I walked over before work felt nicely soft, cool and moist underfoot on a mild morning. During the office day, I was able to keep my flip-flops off most of the time, too. And on my way home, after work, I did not only spot another male barefooter, but also was the target of fascination and admiration coming from two teenage girls, sitting opposite to me in the tram.

They were taking close looks at my feet, and then decided to start the conversation about walking barefoot with a very typical, but rather unexpected question: "Isn't that too cold?" I raised an eyebrow at this, since I was quite surprised to hear that on a sunny day, with temperatures around 25°C (77°F). It was their turn to be surprised, when I told them, that I walk barefoot, as soon as temperatures rise above frost level - which means: in winter, too.

They were both quite fast in agreeing, that it's actually healthy to walk barefoot and then continued looking at the details about my feet, fascinated about the toe rings ("don't these hurt?"), the glittering nail polish on my big toes ("I thought, that was only for women to wear") and my foot tattoo ("Did it hurt much, getting that?"). One of the two girls slipped off her slippers, wiggling her bare toes, saying "I'm gonna try walking barefoot now..." and took a few steps on the tram, quite loudly, since she was heel-striking. I advised them to try and put their weight onto the whole foot, and then roll towards the toes, since that would reduce both the noise as well as the impact on the uncushioned heel bone. She didn't dare to keep those slippers off, though, and when they got off the tram, both were shod. But it might be, that I inspired them to try it out.

One of their questions about my reasons for walking barefoot really was funny, since the girl who wiggled her toes asked, if I were barefoot because I couldn't get any shoes in my size... OK, obviously, I have quite large feet, and wide ones, too. But I assured them, that I still can get shoes in my size (a Europan 46, US 11.5, wide fit), but that these aren't really necessary unless it's frosty outdoors.

It's always nice to get reactions other than the typical giggling from what I normally would call teenage fashion victims, when they encounter my natural, yet unexpected bare feet... I might have made two teenage girls break the cycle of peer pressure and fashion indoctrination by losing their fashionable shoes and wiggle their toes freely.

"I fuck using green power!"

Actually, this is not my personal belief on green electricity, but the title of a newspaper column in the German newspaper "taz" translated to English...

Here's the whole article, originally written in German:

“I fuck using green power!”

Written by Margarete Stokowski, translated from German by ~*Ganesha*~

Original photo from the "taz" article

I’m a bit embarrassed now, but I broke my vibrator. Yes, indeed, while using it! Stupid thing. It just went “crack!”. It looked just the same, outwardly, still nicely pink and smooth, but suddenly you could bend it to a u-shape and there was a cluttering sound, as if loose plastic bits were hitting each other. Something like this is not supposed to happen.

It was no cheap model, either, but came from a renowned brand. It cost me about 60 Euros and even won a design award. And the best thing about it: it was rechargeable. A vibrator that could be charged using green electricity – that’s something I found really sexy!

When I moved into my new apartment and changed my electricity provider, I got stickers with my new contract, reading: “Great for world climate!” (the German original reads “Prima furs Klima”), “Green Power User” and “We work with green electricity”. I found these stickers a bit wisecracking, so I kept them hidden in a drawer for two years. “I fuck using green power!” would have been a sticker I’d have put somewhere, though. On my front door, preferably… in case Jehova’s Witnesses ring to ask “Do you know Jesus?” I could reply “No, but I fuck using green power!”.

Anyway, Poseidon – that’s what I called it, for it was waterproof – was broken. I was sad. After all, one tends to build up a relationship to one’s small electric appliances over time. I told a friend about my tragedy, but she just laughed and asked “What, you only have one vibrator?? Tough luck!”. Stefan, my boyfriend, on the other hand, was glad that just the vibrator was broken and nothing else.

I just googled “Poseidon”, for I was unsure how it’s spelled. Doing that, I learned that Poseidon is not just the ancient Greek god of the seas but also the trigger of earthquakes. How fitting. But now he’s dead. So, now I’ve bought two new vibrators, with slightly different shapes, for testing purposes. One of them is called “Paul” by the company. I think, I’ll stick with that name. Although, it’s a little awkward, since I want to call my son “Paul”, and I can’t really name my firstborn after my vibrator, or can I? Well, bad luck – good sex is my first priority in this matter, now.

Paul looks like a worm and is designed for the G-spot. Stefan calls it “going ‘round the corner”. And then I’ve also bought a second one which still has to arrive by mail, for I ordered it online. I’m very excited to get it. It has a silly brand name, but since it’s waterproof like my old one, I’m calling it “Amphitrite”. A female name. I’m really excited.

”Next week, I’ll have my first date with Amphitrite”, I told Stefan. “I hope she’s hot!”, he replied. “Me too!”, I said. “Since you’ve paid for her”, he said, “she’s almost like your call-girl”. “Aw, don’t put it this way”, I replied, “for she’s going to stay longer than just one night”. “That’s true”, Stefan answered. “She’ll certainly fall in love with you.” 

I’m counting on it.

Margarete Stokowski is
a regular author of articles
and columns for "taz"

The original German article can be read here: http://www.taz.de/!100127/

The Year Wheel keeps turning...

During my Nuddhist morning exercise just now, I saw clear evidence, that the seasons are turning and the Year Wheel is clearly rolling towards fall...

While breathing in the cool early morning air - 14°C/58°F (lovely and refreshing on my skin!) - I gazed at the clear sky, seeing stars winking, while the first hint of sunrise was glowing in the east. And there, in the south-east he was rising: the hunter, who was made immortal by Artemis, as she transformed his image into a star sign (out of remorse, actually, since she killed him for being jealous of him loving Eos instead of her): Orion.

In the northern hemisphere, this particular constellation is visible in clear nights from fall to spring, marking the cooler seasons. While I enjoy warm days for being skyclad outdoors as often as possible, I also welcome the sensations of cooler days to come, especially walking barefoot in fall and winter. But, there might be more warm and summerly days in stock for me, since some weather experts are predicting a dry and warm September in my region.

And as it the sight of stars winking in the pre-dawn morning sky wasn't enough, Mother Nature decided to get creative with her paintbrush again, and presented me with two "Wow!" moments by means of her sunrise sky paintings, which I beheld, while making my barefoot way to work:

Starting with views like this, it can only be a nice day today...

Cool air arriving... Welcome!

Wednesday, at the middle of the week, with Friday and the weekend getting near... it's the day, when tides turn for people working in regular jobs, and the wave of happy anticipation of 2.5 days off (unless you have to work on a Saturday) is building up, about to break in sparkling, bubbly foam on which we then surf into the end of the week.

After the very hot Sunday, and two quite warm days with rising humidity on Monday and Tuesday - temperatures were still around 30°C, the mid-80s F, and mornings were very balmy - some cooler air has arrived, with a nice cool breeze blowing in from the west at 18°C (64°F) this morning.

On Monday, the sunrise was quite spectacular, as remains of the hot air from North Africa and some Saharan desert sand on the wind had tinted the sky, allowing Mother Nature to paint a really gorgeous sunrise onto the sky canvas. Tuesday morning looked similar, only this time, it was humid air and some haze preparing the sky to be painted on... and I was able to spot and shoot pictures of these spectacular sunrise paintings from the office window - a beautiful start into work days, really:

Monday - the rising sun lights up Saharan desert sand on the wind...

Tuesday - wisps of haze, set ablaze by the morning sun...

My usual little morning ritual of gathering energy, my Nuddhism on the balcony, felt like bathing in summer air on Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures around 25°C (77°F) at dawn, making every night a tropical night so far... While it was enjoyable, being clad in nothing but this balmy air, I dreaded the moment, when it was time to get ready to leave the house, since this meant to put on clothes, when it would have been far more comfortable, far more natural and plain sensible to remain nude... again, I was shaking my head at the sutpidity of social taboos about nudity in general and the brain-washing by fashion and advertizing industry, suggesting that natural bodies, in whatever shape are ugly and need "correction" to become "perfect". Once again, I was happy to see that there are people out there, feeling the same way about beauty and self-acceptance as I do... and therefore I shared a picture with a positive message from a Facebook group called Girlz with Curves to make it clear, that this is what I believe, too - even though I am a curvy boy (but this kind of message transcends gender, really):

And with this positive message in mind, my morning Nuddhism, gathering positive energy and sending some of it out to the ones dwelling in my heart, also contained sending out positive vibes and warm big belly feelings to all people celebrating their own kind of beauty, whatever their shape, size or color may be... no wonder I was smiling, while gazing at the fluffy clouds in the sky at dawn...

And now, if someone thinks, that my body is not to be shown this way, let me just reply with another message from Girlz with Curves, which trancends gender and applies to me and my body-of-a-God appearance, too:

So there! :-)

"Namasté. I see you as a beautiful Divine being whose eternal consciousness pervades your body and soul, and is the light of your true self, shining across to mine. I bow to that transcendent being that is the real you."

On the way to work - again, that sad moment came too soon, when it was time to don clothing for social reasons only, rather than enjoying the mild but refreshing breeze on my bare skin - I saw, that harvest times are getting closer... elderberries by the wayside looking temptingly ready to be plucked and used for making juice, jam or wine.

And to follow up with the sunrise series of these three days: Mother Nature decided to illustrate the change in weather in the right style, dipped her paintbrush in the grey and pink dyes, and created a picture of nicely illuminated clouds. Despite their promise of rain, the day stayed dry, while the wind continued blowing in cool air from the west...

One little accident happened just before I entered the office... enjoying to refresh and energize myself by walking barefoot on cool and moist grass, a thorn found its way into the sole of my left foot, impaling it about 2 millimeters deep - but not drawing blood, thanks to the living-leather quality of my bare soles. I was lucky not to to hit it full-length, since it was about a centimeter long and quite evil-looking.

It seems, that the slightly soppy rock ballad "Every rose has its thorn" wanted to make sure I remember it. Sometimes, Mother Nature's shaggy carpet known as dew-wet grass hides its own version of needles and pins... But this little mishap did not affect my PMA (positive mental attitude) at all...

And now, the day is past, the wave on which I will happily surf into the weekend is building up and summer is now showing its gentler side, with cool nights, allowing for soothing and relaxing sleep, too.

"Hot town, summer in the city..."

Remember that song by The Lovin' Spoonful? Released by Kama Sutra Records in 1967 (and the single looked groovy, too). Most people nowadays will react to this song by thinking of Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in Die Hard 3... while actually, this is music from the year when I was born...

And last Sunday, the weather over here was performing a show worthy of this song as its soundtrack. Forecasts were telling us of that day being most likely the hottest of the year so far and the Saturday already was very warm, with temperatures around 30°C (86F), and now we were facing body temperature levels in the shade...

The best strategy for such weather would be to stay as motionless as possible, make sure to drink enough and have some cold water nearby to shower or dip into. After having a Nuddhist breakfast before work on Saturday morning, I decided to spend more quality time of that sort on this hot day to come. I was prepared by taking some fruit - grapes and apricots - sandwiches, a few liters of chilled fruit tea, a little something to read and sunscreen and went to my favourite park, finding me a spot to sit, where the late morning sun was filtered through leaves overhead.

Just the right spot to spread a blanket and have a nice summer picnic

My toes on dewy grass, meeting a buttercup

Fresh fruit...

...and some food for thought and spirit, too.

While soaking up the sun, I gazed around the park, taking in the mood, and some nice positive energy, too, since I had chosen a place in view of the three alders, which I have found to be a gathering spot of spiritual power, as the trio of trees with their different ages look like representations of the Maiden, Mother and Crone, the threefold Goddess Herself.

Soaking up the sun...

...taking in the mood...

...and facing the threefold Goddess alders trio.

Since the temperatures were already near 30°C (86F) around 11 am, I was quite happy to have found the place to sit, take off my clothes and let my body perform its natural function of cooling via the skin. Of course, I had planned it to be a Nuddhist picnic, and so it felt just wonderful to apply sunscreen and feel a warm breeze wafting over me, as I took my trademark sitting living God position, closed my eyes and unfocused on the beauty around me to focus on the beauty coming from within.

"I have the body of a God!"

As the time passed, and I got a little hungry, I had my brunch, and when eating grapes and the apricots, I took less of the sitting Ganesha position and more of a posture reminescent of classic Roman decadence...

"When in Rome..."

After spending about four hours being as motionless as possible and having soaked up lots of sun and nice energy, I thought it would be nice to conclude this hot and sunny afternoon with another piece of decadence, by having an ice cream and a cold drink in a café in town. So, I went to the bus stop at the exit of the park - which was in the shade, fortunately, since temperatures had reached body temperature levels, as forecast (37°C/99F in the shade and more in the sun). Walking there, I put on my sarong, leaving my belly bare and put my t-shirt back on, just as I was about to get out to the bus stop. Hadn't it been for social taboos, I would have preferred staying nude. When walking barefoot around town, I noticed that my bare soles were indeed fit for summer, as the layer of living leather plus the dirt collected over the day provided a nice protective layer against the heat I felt when walking on sunlit parts of the paved sidewalks. Nevertheless, when arriving at the central station bus stop and making my way through the mall to get to my favourite Italian ice cream parlor/café, I greatly enjoyed the feeling of the considerably cooler tiled floor indoors.

Finding a nice table in the shade at the outdoor seating area of the café, I ordered something befitting the summerly weather: an ice cream cup "Hawai'i" with pineapple syrup as well as chunks of fresh pineapple and to quench my thirst, a large glass of apple spritzer with it.

After spending this lazy afternoon, I went back home, taking the subway (really delightful: the tiled floor at the platform, even cooler than inside the mall!). And since both the subway, as well as the bus I took into town had no A/C, I was rather glad that I decided not to go to the street painters and art festival in Geldern, near the German-Dutch border. Getting there would have required a two-hour ride by pubic transport (that's four hours there and back) and as I've heard on the evening news later on, lots of trains had problems staying cool in the heat. Going to a lake or other swimming spot would have been a very crowdy experience, too, so I think I found a very good solution to dealing with the hottest day of the year.

Now, temperatures are predicted to decrease, with thunderstorms marking an end of the extensive heat, making place for for moderate 25°C/77F... which is quite enough for my taste.