There was some amazing thunder and lightning storms on Saturday night, it was the first time it had rained properly in a long time and it was quite humid afterwards. We managed to get home from the park about 10 minutes before it started so luckily we didn't get caught up in it. We ate dinner whilst watching the lightning storms out of our windows, it was amazing and slightly strange but left us feeling really cosy. We were hoping that this would lead to and end of the heat we'd been having all week but no such luck, this was only the beginning of the heatwave and things were forecast to get hotter, which they did.

On Sunday we camped out for the afternoon in Starbucks enjoying the comfort of it's ice cold air conditioning and delaying our exit for as long as possible. We then did our weekly shopping in Safeway and carried it back home in the sweltering heat totally losing all the benefits of the previous cool down! In the evening I played football on the field that is a short walk away from our home, it was the third time in 5 days and was good fun, just very sweaty. The following day on Monday we went downtown and printed off and completed our MSP (health care) forms to get them in before the end of the month (Jon, we did it at last and yes we have private cover until then!) and in the evening we went for a nice meal at an Australian-themed restaurant which was also quiet cheap. We got a new office chair too as we spotted some on sale and we think we got a really good deal compared to others we'd seen, now that all remains for a 'real office' is a desk / table. 

On Monday night / Tuesday morning I found it impossible to sleep as it was so hot and sticky, the fan has lost it's effectiveness and now just blows warm air onto us which doesn't help a great deal. The weather isn't really cooling off at night and is still sitting around 26c outside, indoors it is even higher. I eventually got to sleep at 6:30am, Lou managing to fall asleep a couple of hours before me at 4am. We got up reasonably early though on Tuesday despite the lack of sleep and waited in for the chair to be delivered (which was an achievement in itself as the apartment has become sauna-esque especially in the mornings). In the afternoon we headed off to Metropolis to do some clothes shopping for Lou, I was happy to go along and play bag carrier as everywhere was air-conditioned. Lou now has lots of new clothes suitable for the weather - plenty of skirts and dresses, and she also got some real good bargains too. One dress in particular that she was pleased with was originally $80 but had been reduced to $40 (which seemed like a great deal) then when she got to the register she discovered it had a further 50% off so it only cost $20. 

Today we went downtown to find some shelter from the heat as it was unbearable. We waited for 3 trains to go by before we got on as we wanted to ride in one of the good chilled carriages. Other people had the same idea as us though, we noticed the 3 that went by were almost empty and the good one was really crowded when it arrived at the station. We didn't do a great deal once we arrived downtown we just walked around and nipped in to a shop or coffee shop every now and then to cool off or rehydrate.

It is officially the hottest day in Vancouver ever today, 33.8c. This is breaking the previous record which was set in 1960 and all the locals who've been here for ages even seem to be struggling with the heat too. I played football tonight (stupid, I know) and told I my friend it was the hottest weather I have experienced in my life and that was no exaggeration. We went to Spain in 2005 and it reached a temperature of 35 one day but on that particular occasion I took refuge in the hotel room with the air conditioning on full so I never really experienced it!  Here there is no breeze until about 11pm at night and it is just stifling when walking about during the day. I have never sweated this much ever, last night I slept on top of a beach towel in preparation for it  and when I woke up it was ringing wet! Believe me, we are by no means bragging about the heat - we would love some British weather right now.