Jan Toorop
Since Wednesday the days were really difficult for me because it was such shocking news about the air conditioning that it got me quite depressed.
Which is not how I want to be, especially as depression is one of the side-effects of Multiple Sclerosis.
I'm sure that depression can cause a lot of damage; something that I want to avoid is much as I can, for a brief period the news totally demoralised me.
Somehow I will have to try to keep a balance and not get too involved with fighting for my rights, but on the hand I don't intend to give up any time soon.
The whole way this is being handled just shows what the Amsterdam Council thinks of my application for air conditioning, they seem to think it is a frivolous request.
Of course it is not frivolous it is a vital necessity, Wednesdays heat wave confirmed once again why I needed it.
If I didn't get physically sick and unable to function due to the heat I would not want air conditioning.
In my opinion air conditioning is one of the contributors to global warming and the destruction of our weather systems.
My earliest memory of air conditioning was in the 50s in Trinidad, when an American school friend took a little group of us to her house.
I remember thinking that her house felt like a deep freeze which I did not like; I also recall being offered strange cheese sandwiches.
It was cheese like I've never seen nor eaten before; bright orange cheese spread in a jar, the other option was hot dogs, also orange.
I remember tentatively trying both but I could not manage to eat them, I was very glad to get home to a delicious curry.
The only other time I've experienced air conditioning was in 1997 when I visited Trinidad for the first time since 1962 when we had left.
The other thing I never thought I'd be using here in Amsterdam is mosquito nets, which we both have so that we can get a good nights sleep.
That is much better than swatting mosquitoes all night which is something that we had to do, especially in the last 10 years.
Today I feel a lot better especially as yesterday and today it has been cooler which is made my life a lot easier.
My intention now is to relax as much as I can and enjoy the weekend with my Darling Richie and our three delightful dogs.
