The summer solstice is either today or was yesterday. For some reason my calendar doesn't note it though it does tell me that next Tuesday is St-Jean day in Quebec.I turn my air conditioner on for the first time and pray that it works. It does. Last summer when I first turned it on nothing happened and I resigned myself to living in muggy squallor. But a friend told me the fan was probably just stuck and so I broke off the fake wood plastic front and reached in to free it up and the air conditioner worked for the rest of the summer. Amazing, I don't even remember how old it is. I bought an off-brand on sale from a store that no longer exists -- must have been ten years ago -- and it's been a faithfull cooler ever since.
Wish I could say the same for my refrigerator. Last week I did my twice-yearly defrost and flooded the kitchen floor. I turn it off, unplug and let it sit overnight with newspapers piled around the floor. My apartment tilts and the water puddles up around the bathroom door and probably leaks into the apartment below though they've never said anything. During the night chunks of ice dislodge from the freezer and wake me up. I think someone has crawled into through the window next to it and get up to investigate, stepping into a pile of soggy newspapers. It's the same story every time. At least my life has some consistency.