Hot weather

We arrived back in Albania in the middle of July.

I thought that would be ok. I expected that like previous years we would get some thunder showers and even maybe a couple of days rain during August to keep the weather cool. But this summer has been particularly hot.
The weather has been regularly above the 30’s and only now are they forecasting a chance of rain at the weekend. We even had some thunder today…but it immediately disappeared.

What is worse is that we have just been given electric meters so rather than paying a set fee each month, we must pay for what we actually use. So we have been using the air conditioner less than normal, until we see how much the bill comes to. Neighbours have been getting from 12,000 new lek, to 20,000 new lek ( approx £130 UK, or $240 US) for a month.

That means, with no air conditioner, I have been really struggling. As a Scotsman I am just not used to this heat, and at nights I wake up soaking with sweat! It’s a bit like living in a sauna!

The thing about Shkoder is that the humidity is VERY high! We had friends up from Tirana last week and they couldn’t believe how hot it was in Shkoder compared with Tirana.

Between sweat rolling down the back of my neck, and the mosquitoes I am not getting much sleep!