From dp025@seqeb.gov.au Thu Dec 05 06:11:18 1996
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: D.J.Files...bits of a surfing life  #71 Hot - djhhhot.71 [1/1]
From: dp025@seqeb.gov.au (Bear)
Date: 5 Dec 1996 06:11:18 GMT

  
  Disclaimer :  All true. Only the names have been changed...along with
                some of the facts.
                
                  The D.J.Files #71

       Heat and Humidity

       "Why didn't they turn the engines off, before they let us out?", said
 Mrs.Bear, standing at the top of the wheeled steps leading down from the 747.
       "They _are_ off, dear, that's the _air_  you're feeling" said the ursine
 one.
       "Oh." 
       You could feel the beads of sweat forming all over you. Like some form
 of weird sci-fi parasites were doing a quick rat-and-sinking-ship scenario.
       "Well I hope it's not like this in Australia!!" said the lady.
       Bear bundled himself down the steps, wearing luggage like a trader's
 camel wears goods. They were changing planes. This was Kuala Lumpur. Air temp:
 38C, humidity: I dunno, _can_ you go over 100% with humidity. You know, like
 you can go over 100proof with tequila?
       "No dear, I'm sure it's not like this in Australia!"  said Bear, doing
 a :-p into his own armpit so she couldn't see. Pfphhhhtt - the sliding doors
 opened into the waiting lounge and everyone sighed as they melted into the
 24C 50% 'coldness' within. During their two-hour wait for the connexion, a
 thunderstorm kicked in. Tropical style. The departing flight took off in the
 middle of it, amid "ooh!"s and "aah!"s from some of the passengers. The cabin
 lit up several times with a wonderful mauve light.
       ...

        Aw shit! The air conditioning in the car had gone off again. Bear
 opened the windows, leaning across the boards to reach the passenger side.
 Wind came in thru the windows, but it was reminiscent of the blast furnaces
 at the steel company he'd worked at as a young bloke. Some annoying turkey on
 the radio was telling him he was "heading for a high of 35C, with the chance
 of a late storm". Yeah, yeah, heard it a hundred times.  It is in fact, very
 likely to be a recorded message, since for a part of the year it's a pretty
 standard forecast.
        Summer...in this part of the world Xmas is the big school holiday
 time. Bear drove straight down the back road, behind the Legoland of Gold
 Coast City, heading for the Coolangatta end. Somewhere out in the big, blue
 Pacific, cyclonic activity was sending the blessing of a swell. Lines as
 regular as venetian blinds were pouring onto a fine little selection of point
 breaks. Burleigh would be packed with the good, the very good and the ugly.
 At Currumbin, the bank wasn't quite right these days. Snapper would also
 be packed. Greenmount would have a crowd too, but not so bad, and it always
 seems mellower somehow.
        Bear jumped in at Rainbow and paddled across into the Greenmount lineup.
 The water was like a bath, but so welcome in the heat. Sitting outside, the
 sun evaporated the water from the rash vest; nature's air conditioning.  
        The waves here were about head-high at take-off, gradually wearing
 down as they rolled in along the point. Long rides. Fun. A couple of dolphins
 appeared for a while. There were fish in the waves too.
        On the drive home, the sky hazed, then darkened. Driving past the
 Dreamworld theme park, a flash of lightning lit up the inside of the car
 with a mauve light. Something awfully big 'fell over' up in the sky. This is
 a fairly common occurrence here in the sub-tropics, but for some reason, this
 time it caused Bear to recall Kuala Lumpur. He smiled.
                         'Sorry dear' :-)
       
                               ***
  


-- 
Bear