Our ancient air conditioning

system refused to function yesterday. I don't blame it because the temperature hit 45.1C yesterday - and today is forecast to be even hotter, tomorrow hotter still.
The Senior Cat made it home safely - although when he 'phoned me to say he had reached the chemist I made him go to the shop a few metres away and get himself an iced coffee. He was not aware of it but I could hear he needed it - despite having already drunk almost a litre of the cold water I had given him.
He rang the electrician - a local man who knows us and is aware of the Senior Cat's age.
"Be round there shortly mate. We can do what we did before," he told the Senior Cat.
Yes, we have had the problem before. The system was only designed to function in heat up to the old 100'F. These days temperatures often surpass that here.
He arrived just after we had eaten some lunch and set up a sprinkler system to - ridiculously - keep the cooler cool! It is not a perfect solution but it keeps the system going. Pay him now? No. Cold water? Yes please.
He had, he told us, just done the same thing for five units at one of the aged care complexes near us. His next job was on the other side of the city - a hospital's air conditioning struggling to work in the heat.
I don't know how much longer our system will keep working. I hope it sees us through the summer. We will pay him eventually but it will be a minimal bill.
And I will go on watching out for his intellectually disabled daughter and having those short conversations with her. I'd do it anyway - but he clearly appreciates someone outside the family saying "yes" each time she asks if we are friends. I just find it sad that it should even be something he considers unusual.