One very noticeable thing about this summer we’re rapidly steaming into: cicadas. The past few years there’s been a distinct lack of cicadas, but this year there’s clearly been a huge hatching. The buzzing of the trees with cicadas is loud and obvious, especially in the early evening. Last night we had to turn the TV up louder than usual to hear it – even with the windows closed.
I’ve also seen a lot more cicada shells left behind in tree trunks as the moulting insects leave them. They’re all over the place. The common Australian species Cyclochila australasiae (“green grocers”) and Thopha saccata (“double drummers”) are different to the North American cicadas, and don’t have the famous periodical breeding patterns. They seem to be a lot less predictable, maybe related to the climate or predators or something. The Australian species are also known for being the loudest insects in the world. Which I can testify to.
It was another hot and humid day today, perfect for the cicadas. Overnight the temperature didn’t drop below 20°C, which is a bit too warm for comfortable sleeping. Tomorrow should be hot too, but with late rain moving in to cool things down for the next few days.
First thing this morning I had to go see my doctor for a routine checkup and blood test results> Rather than brave the heat and walk like I normally would, I took the train there, and then the Metro back, stopping off on the way home to pick up a pastry from Moon Phase (right next door to the Metro station). I think there were only two things on their regular menu that I haven’t tried yet (apart from a tiramisu and an Earl Grey tea thing, which I won’t ever have because of the caffeine). So today I tried the pistachio and rose concoction. It’s a squat cylinder of pastry topped with flowery pink icing and, as I discovered, filled with a substantial pistachio cream filling and raspberries. It was much denser and more filling than I’d assumed.
In the afternoon I did some Darths & Droids comics stuff and made a sourdough loaf. And then had three ethics classes in the evening. I revamped some of the questions and think the lesson plan runs better than last night’s one.
New content today:
I just started wondering what kind of windows do you have – mainly how many panes of glass do you have in each window? I’d think probably at least two, but maybe not three.
I ask because until last year we had double-paned windows, as the building is from the Sixties and had its original windows. For as long as I can remember, newly-constructed buildings in Finland have triple-paned windows, mainly because they keep the heat in better during the winter. Still, one effect of the extra pane is that noise from the outside is much quieter – it feels strangely silent now during our late autumn. (In the spring and summer birdsong is often heard through the windows.)
I kind of assume you don’t want to keep the heat in as much as we do, though. 🙂
Haha… windows in Australia are not double-glazed. They are almost all just a single sheet of glass between the interior and outside. Typically a window has a single fixed pane of glass covering half the window, and a sliding pane of glass covering the other half, which can be slid across to open the window – in this configuration one half of the window temporarily has two sheets of glass but they’re not sealed or anything, and the other half of the window is wide open to the fresh air. We have insect screens to keep flies and mosquitoes and other things out.
When the window is closed, there’s a single sheet of glass. No double glazing with air gap for insulation. This is part of the reason why Australian houses are so cold in winter.
Ha, thanks, I assumed very wrong! Now I know better.
That’d explain some sound problems, then.
I’ve been to Australia, once, almost twenty years ago, but maybe I didn’t pay attention windows then.