Real summer

We are in the middle of a typical February heat wave in Perth. We started getting hot easterly winds on Friday and they continued over the weekend. Yesterday and today we added in very high temperatures and it will be above 40C the next three days according to the latest forecast. Not sure of a previously forecast storm/shower is still on the cards now but I’m hoping not if it brings high humidity. I think this weekend was the first of the summer with many major bushfires. There must have been something nearby as a helicopter kept passing by. Our neighborhood is adjacent to Whiteman Park, a large state park which has experiences regular bushfires.

One of my main objectives this afternoon was to buy new cross trainers. I bought a pair of New Balance walking shoes online early last year, I think, and they did a pretty good job for just walking and were relatively inexpensive for  brand name shoes. I’ve been using those at the gym but as they aren’t meant for that sort of use, they are looking pretty worn and torn now. They also weren’t exactly stable shoes with their lack of tread and support for any impact exercise. My search started last weekend with a trip to our nearby shopping centre with the Scientist. That wasn’t an ideal time to start my search due it being the last weekend before the new school year started. Shoe shops were all pretty packed with people. I ended up at a discount place where I was able to try on shoes with minimal assistance. I found one shoe that I liked the look of at a very good price but they didn’t have my size or anything near it. I fell back on the tried and true New Balance brand as they tend work well with my relatively wide feet. I started with a 9 ½ and that felt okay but after walking around a bit I noticed there seemed to be a lot of space around my toes and my concern was my feet would be swimming in space once they were worn in a bit. This is something of a surprise as I’ve worn similar models before and have always required this size. I tried on a size 9 and they also felt fine but after walking around in them, I worried that maybe they were a bit limited in toes space, even allowing for stretch. I dithered quite a bit and must have driven the Scientist a bit mad, especially when I left without buying anything.

I went back to the store today without dragging the Scientist along. He was quite busy watching the one-day cricket match so I think I’d have found it difficult to persuade him to come along. This week that shoe that I really liked was again available but it was no longer on sale. I tried a pair on anyway just to see how they felt. They felt okay but I thought they didn’t accommodate my orthotics as well as the ones I’d tried last week. I checked for other possibilities before trying the same shoes as last week. This time I found the 9½ really was too roomy and the 9 felt fine. I walked around for a little while just to be sure and decided on the size 9 shoes. I also scored a free pair of Thorlo socks (usually $20) as a bonus with these shoes, which were only $89. I later noticed the socks were made in Statesville, NC which wasn’t that far out of the way from where I used to live in Charlotte. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me too much to know that North Carolina is still very much a textile center.

My next stop was at the grocery store to pick up milk and a few groceries before rushing back to our local pet and garden store to get a couple of things for the dogs while they were still on sale today. I was in and out of there within five minutes and went to start the car and it wouldn’t start. I turned off the air conditioner and radio and tried again and it still wouldn’t start. I made a call home and then to the RAC roadside assistance service and then had a 45 minute wait for someone to arrive. Meanwhile I had milk and some frozen foods in the car and it was like an oven outside. The Scientist suggested I ask the pet and garden store people if I could keep my bag in their freezer and they were quite accommodating. I mostly waited inside that store as it was somewhat cooler than than outside. It also had a wide open entrance that allowed me to watch out for the familiar yellow vehicle that signalled help had arrived. After what seemed a very long time, someone did arrive and it was soon worked out that the battery was dead, or nearly so since the radio still worked. This wasn’t a surprise since we’ve had some problems starting the car lately. I’d hoped to wait until our service early next month but the need arose before then. I was given a jump start to get home and the guy sent through an order for someone to come and replace the battery. I was home in short order and it was no time at all before someone turned up to replace the battery. This is probably the fastest response time we’ve ever had for a new battery. While the Scientist dealt with the car, I set about fixing my somewhat dehydrated body.

A couple hours later I had eaten and drunk sufficiently and felt much better.  Now my dilemma was whether to go to the gym or not. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of an issue as Monday is our normal day off so I could just pick up a lost day there. But I am giving plasma on Tuesday and planned to exercise on Monday so I could have Tuesday off. In the end I did go to the gym and worked out for just over an hour. I wore my new shoes and found they were far better for the squats and lunges in the workout I was doing today. I won’t say they felt totally right but I think they will be pretty comfortable once they are worn in a bit.