It is HOT in this apartment right now. Of course it doesn't help that there is hot and humid conditions outside, that is true enough but the fact that our apartment is on the North West corner of the building means that we get more sun from about 2pm to sunset, which helps to heat the apartment up even further.
I have a thermometer in the bedroom, it is reading at around about 30C. (86F) and that is with the methods we have utilized in an attempt to keep our home cooler. Every summer we put up window sun blockers. What they are is simply white foamboard with tinfoil (shiny side out) and black bristol board on the inside. What it does is keep the rooms darker and hopefully the temperature down by reflecting the sun back outside. It does work...after a fashion. We tried before without it and were left feeling as hot as the outside or hotter once the sun started to shine through our windows. But it still isn't a drastic improvement.
We still feel the humidity, it seems to seep right in and it causes headaches and for me with my asthma...some degree of discomfort as well as requiring me to slow down my daily activity. That isn't too great for trying to exercise now is it?
I'm almost tempted to reverse my night and day while the weather holds this way, so that I can sleep through the entire day, problem is...life is set to daytime up and nighttime down so it doesn't work out so well.
The reason I decided to write about this was because when the weather heats up, the poor are the ones caught in it. Where I live hydro costs MORE during the hottest part of the day. I get why that is...it is an effort to conserve electricity and was meant to curb "over use of air conditioners while you are not in the home". Problem is, the only ones who are paying for it, are those who can't afford to PAY for the hydro.
We are talking here about the elderly, those on welfare and those on disability. Yeah I know what you are thinking...go to a "cooling center". Well that would work, if these three groups could in fact AFFORD the bus fare. Problem is...only one group gets busfare consistently...Ontario Works. You only get bus fare with OW IF you are an active participant (read here, engaged in job search). If you are on a disability deferral, you can't get busfare unless you have a good reason for needing it. If you need to go to a doctor, you have to get the doctor to sign a letter saying that you need to go regularly and require bus fare to do so. On ODSP I'm sure its quite similar. You likely have to prove you are regularly attending a doctor to qualify.
So where does that leave the rest of us? In the sweltering heat and very poor air quality trying to get along as best we can. If you are lucky and live near a mall, you can head there on foot and hide there for the day. If like me you are distant from a mall and no cooling centers are nearby...you don't get to go anywhere. 6 cooling centers in our city are open on a sunday....our local libraries are CLOSED on sundays during the period from May to about October? until the students come back and need it. That leaves them out as an option.
We get told that heading to a cooling center is a good idea on this kind of day, but the reality is most of us can't reach them without money, which we are not allowed to have on the current system.
This is a reality for many of the poorest citizens in our cities across Canada and yep, down there in the USA as well. I guess staying cool and healthy is only for the wealthy :/ NOTE: I would like to remind people that they SHOULD check on their neighbors if they are low income or you know they have medical conditions....in this weather it's the right thing to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment