This summer seems to be just about upon us. Summer is the worst season in Japan for me. For this year and last we’re unable to escape the heat and have to shelter in place and depend on our air conditioners to keep us alive during this hot, sweaty time.
About a month ago we were cleaning and prepping the air conditioners and found that our bedroom one was pretty much on its last legs. That meant a trip to the electronics store, and after dropping some cash we’ve got a new one upstairs that we have already started using now and then.
Just a couple of days ago we noticed an alarm going off upstairs suddenly, and I went up and checked various devices before finding out that my wine cellar was broken – apparently the compressor died. The alarm was indicating that the temperature was above the safe range, and thankfully this happened before the brutal heat of July and August. It was odd to think that I used to be responsible for maintaining the cellar temperature of thousands and thousands of gallons of wine – now I’ve only got to take care of 20 bottles or so.
So after ten years the trusty old wine cellar is kaput and a replacement is on its way to take over the heavy lifting of keeping our wines cool. It is not an easy job – the temperature in that room frequently reaches 35 degrees C (95 degrees F) in summertime, while the wine cellar will need to keep the wine at around 15 degrees C (59 degrees F). No wonder the old cellar gave up after a decade.
The latest news on vaccinations seems to be that we’ll be able to get our first shot in July sometime, and the second sometime in August. That means that we’ve got a good shot at getting out of the country for some travel in December. Hopefully by 2022 we can get back on our regular travel schedule – it has been a long time since we’ve been out on the road!
