Let’s see…
- Catching a cold just before leaving, and the on-off, rain/sun, hot/cold humid weather here isn’t helping. It’s been 5 days so far and my cold shows no sign of letting up. The fact that I’m pushing myself and totally exhausted does not help. My nose is completely clogged up and I’m having to clear it regularly just to breathe.
- Phone doesn’t work… I think it might have been fried by the security checkpoint on the way over here. It says that it doesn’t recognize the SIM card, so it *is* possible that it doesn’t like the networks here, but I think it is fried. Can’t access the maps and notes stored on it, so I’m forced to go with my backup paper copies 🙁 iPhone when I get back?
- Dropped my camera on day 3 of 20 >.< It fell on the open lens, so it really is broken. I managed to get a few other photos out of it before it died completely, jammed up. I’ll have to see about sending it back to Canon after I get back… however, I’m not about to go through the rest of the vacation without a camera! The latest SD850 camera (or IXUS950) is not out here yet, having been just announced in May, so I’ve picked up a Canon EOS 40D (aka Digital Rebel XTi). Expensive, especially given the exchange rates, but getting VAT refunded helps somewhat… still more then I’d normally pay for it, but at least I have a camera for the rest of this vacation.
- Being completely tired – The fact that sunset isn’t until 10:30pm really screws me up. I keep on wanting to be out until what I think is "evening", and since there usually are things to do, I’m not back till 11pm, sleep late, wake up early… I’m building up a huge sleep debt that will have to be paid back soon.
- Sweating like a pig… the humidity just gets to me… Even if I’m not exerting myself, my skin still gets moist and I feel icky… and worse if I’m wearing long sleeves or jeans. The evenings are better, but it is still very humid. I’m going to hate next week when I’ll be around Paris in a suit!
- The rain! Paris summer consists of cool mornings, followed by the hot sun, then the rain, then the sun, then the rain, then sun, then… repeat until evening, when you think you’ll get a good sunset, then the clouds come in again and makes everything dark and cold. Dressing in layers barely covers it. The weather here is crazy.