Clean Cola in the Heatwave

It was already very hot outside. Not just warm, but the kind of hot where the air feels heavy before you even move. I think it was close to forty degrees, maybe more in the sun, and I had seen the heatwave on the news the evening before. When Fruitloop told me it was cold where she was, I had to smile a little. Seventeen degrees. For winter, I thought, that is okay. Compared with forty, it is almost fresh.

But she had the wind. I could see it a little bit, even through the screen, that feeling of cold wind. She told me July is usually the coldest month for them, and sometimes the temperature goes down to zero, or minus two or three. Not many days, but still. If there is snow in the Cape region, they get all the cold wind from the south. I told her then, no skiing for you, I think. She said there are places, but she does not like the cold. I understand that. I like snow, but we do not have so much snow anymore either.

Here, the problem was the other side. The heat. For old people and small children it can be difficult, and sleeping at night is not easy. The air conditioning was on. We needed it. It is strange, because in Fruitloop’s winter she had not even put extra blankets on all the beds yet, only on her son’s bed because his room is colder. Last year, by this time, she already had two blankets. This year was warmer.

I was thinking about the weather applications too, because if you look at three different ones, they all tell you different things. One says more than thirty degrees, another says twenty-five. So what can you do? You look outside, you feel the air on your skin, and then you know.

Our summer was already full. On Friday we were invited to one of my sister-in-law’s birthdays. I have several sisters-in-law, so there is always someone. On Saturday evening we had tickets for an open-air music festival in town. All outside. Of course, they planned forty degrees. Very good idea, yes. Last week we also had the music festival in France for the start of summertime. At the tennis club we made tarte flambée, something like pizza but not pizza, with different ingredients. We made more than two hundred, but because of the heat there were not so many people at lunchtime, so we postponed it to the evening.

It was still nice. We were working outside together, and there was this good feeling when people do something with their hands, passing things, preparing, laughing a little, sweating also. There was a gospel group, and then a DJ at the end. Not bad. Because it was Sunday, everything had to stop at midnight. If it is Saturday, maybe it is different, but Sunday is Sunday.

The Saturday before, my husband and I went by bike to a festival in a German town. We thought evening temperature would be better. It was not planned to stay so long. But then, of course, we stayed. So we had to come back by bicycle at midnight. More than fifty kilometres. In the fields. In the wine fields. Luckily, we had lights on the bicycles, because otherwise it would not be possible. There was a road for bikes and tractors, but still, in the dark, you have to be really concentrated. You never know. The night was quiet, and the fields still kept the heat from the day. It was a good experience, but also, I was happy when we were home.

On Sunday it was Father’s Day, the same for us and for Fruitloop. Mother’s Day is not always the same, but Father’s Day was. I also went running early in the morning. Six kilometres and six hundred metres, and then I stopped. That was enough. It was already hot after six, even in the fields. At the end I was very red, like a tomato. But I had done it. In the evening we did another bike ride, about forty kilometres, to visit my sister. So sport in the morning, sport in the evening, and then the next day, no sport. After our call I thought, probably I will go to the pool.

The pool is funny now because normally my husband needs to heat it. Now it is the opposite. It is too hot. The water is around thirty degrees, and I like that, but he says no, that is not a pool, that is not funny. When the air is already so hot, you need the water to refresh you. So now we need to cool the pool, not warm it. Life is very complicated.

At lunchtime that day, my husband and I made a little surprise. My daughter was working in the restaurant, and we reserved a table for the daily plate. I phoned in the morning and gave the name. A few minutes later my daughter sent me a message because she had seen the name in the reservation book. She asked if I had reserved. I said no, what do you want now? I told her I was working and that there was too much smoke in town, so she believed it. Then we arrived, and she was surprised. They were doing barbecue, so that is why we ate there.

My other daughter was coming home too. She had finished at two o’clock and only had to start the next morning at half past ten. Her apartment was too hot. In the city, with the buildings, everything keeps the heat. There is not good isolation, and she said no, it is not possible to stay there alone. She wanted to come home, drive one hour, and go to the pool. I understand. Sometimes home is just where the air feels easier.

We spoke about holidays, but we have nothing planned. Earlier we could not decide because of the apartment situation for my daughter, and now it is done, but the summer is full already. We have an eighteenth birthday celebration, two parties with family and friends, another birthday from tennis, my mother will be eighty-five, my husband has his birthday, I have my birthday. Too many celebrations. We stay home, but we are always busy. It is like little holidays. I like that. Sometimes too many, yes, but you cannot choose everything.

That connected feeling is one of the difficult things with home office. I like working from home. I like that I do not need to travel, that I can cook something fresh, that when I finish work, I am already home. But it is also a paradox. Your work is there. Your laptop is there. Your phone is there. If something is in your head, you can open the laptop late in the evening, or on the weekend, and resolve it. Sometimes that is good. Sometimes it is not good at all.

I have Teams and emails on my private phone. That was my decision, yes, but now I live with it. If a message arrives, I see it. And I am curious. Sometimes I look. Sometimes it makes me angry, or it puts something negative in my head, and then I cannot concentrate on private life. Nobody is asking me to answer late in the evening. Often it is people from other countries, different time zones. But still, if you see it, it is there.

I have a lot of freedom at work. I can manage my time. If I take one hour for lunch, like I did at the restaurant, it is okay. If the work is not done at that moment, then it is my responsibility to do it later. My colleagues trust me. I do not have to report every break. Only if I take a full day holiday, someone needs to cover me.

Still, I felt a little pressure at lunch. We did not eat dessert because I wanted to go back to work. My husband said, okay, we drink coffee at home and he will eat an ice cream later. Very practical. I felt a little guilty, maybe because I thought of other colleagues sitting in the office, not having this same moment. But then again, they also have home office days. And I need to have lunch. It is not something I do every day.

On home office days I can start early, often after seven, and finish earlier. On office days I start around half past seven and maybe finish at five, then shopping for my mother, then home at half past six or seven. It works. I like the freedom feeling. I know some companies control people all day. In our office in Germany, it is not like that. Maybe in Belgium at the headquarters it is different, I do not know. But for us, we are quite free.

My office itself is not perfect in the heat. Upstairs they have air conditioning. Downstairs, where I work, I do not. But next to my office is the server room, and that room has air conditioning because the computers need it. So we leave the door open, and a little fresh air comes into my room. Not much, but a little. Fruitloop said I should move upstairs. Maybe. But all my screens and documents are downstairs. And I like being down there, alone but not alone. If I want to see someone, I go up the stairs. So I think I will stay there, even in a heatwave.

We talked about balance between work and play, and I was not sure at first what “play” meant. Playing? Or not working? Then I understood — breaks, parties, going somewhere, rest, life outside work. For me, balance means managing time so I do not fall into a system where I only work. That can become burnout. You need time for yourself.

But even fun can make you tired. A busy summer can be stressful before it even begins. Going to someone else’s party is easier. Having people at home is another thing. Then you must prepare, organise, clean, think of food, think of everything. And leaving early depends on the people, the group, the atmosphere. Most of the time, if someone wants to stay late, it is my husband. I want to go home, and he says, wait a little bit, wait a little bit. Then at the end we are the last ones. If one day he wants to go home and I want to stay, I will say the same to him. Wait a little bit. Just to give him his own medicine.

But when I was sick, he understood. Then it was different. He supported me, and I cannot complain about that.

In the heat, I do not watch much television. I prefer to be outside. My husband installed a television outside because of football, of course. From the pool you can see it. You can even turn it. Why not? But inside, no, not so much now. In winter I watch more, especially if I am alone in the evening. Then I like Netflix. I like watching what I want, alone, relaxed.

Outside in summer is better. Friends, family, sister-in-law, aperitif near the pool, sometimes in the pool, watching football. But when it is very hot, I do not like alcohol. I prefer cola without whisky. Fruitloop laughed and said, a clean cola. Yes, exactly. A clean cola with ice, or sparkling water. That is enough.

Running gives me positive energy, even when it is hard. It teaches strength, motivation, concentration. You need to prepare yourself in your mind, especially in the morning. I do not decide to run when the alarm rings. I decide the day before, so my mind has time to accept it. If I plan six or seven kilometres, I want to finish. Work is different. Work is responsibility. It is my salary, my contract, my daily life. Some days I do not feel like working, but then I work. You travel to work, or you open the laptop, and you do what you need to do. It is not negative. I like what I do. Sometimes it is a lot, but I like it.

Then, of course, the phone rang. Publicity calls. Every day. Fruitloop has insurance calls; we have energy calls. Solar panels, saving energy, all the time. Sometimes it is artificial intelligence or a robot call. I do not answer if I do not know the number. I block the numbers, but they always change. My blocked list is so big now. It is crazy. Fruitloop said some countries have laws against this. I hope more countries do. Stop calling me. Really.

At the end, the day was still hot, and I was thinking about the pool, about the clean cola, maybe an aperitif later. I had bought limoncello to try at home because I had tasted it once in a bar and it was good. I was curious. Nothing too big. Just the small glass, the heat still sitting in the stones, the water waiting, the phone maybe quiet for once.

That would already be a good kind of rest.