We crawled off to Satara in reasonably good spirits, but the car was now showing 46 degrees. To be honest, I have never in my life been in this kind of heat, other than a sauna? I ordered them to turn off the temperature indicator...maybe that would help?
Then at Satara we got out...big mistake. (It apparently got to 50 there...)
All Sensory organs: "WTF!!!????"
Pancreas: "WTF?"
Gall Bladder: "WTF?!"
Liver: "I told you so!"
Kidneys: "We cannae take it any longer, Captain! Hydration systems failing! Salt levels depleted! Bladder reports severe drought! Abort! Abort!"
Hypothalamus: "Shutting down all systems in 3,2,1..."
Rest of Brain: "Confirm, shutting down all non-essential systems on my side too. Authorising panic attack in 3,2,1... Kry vir jou. Sien jou later..."
And there it was...
I had/have been an anxiety fellow for 18 years or so, and had just weaned myself from the heavy pills the year before as my body was addicted, so only had the "use as needed" smaller stuff, which sort of works? But I think it was a bit of a couple of days of dehydration too? It is difficult to explain to those who haven't experienced it...your body can still operate basically, but you are immobile and useless for all practical purposes. This was Satan's Trifecta, heat, worrying for a week before, and feeling trapped. All the others went shopping, so I couldn't get away. Fortunately Dwarf's car was open, so I got in eventually with some aircon. When the others arrived they were scared, not a nice thing for them, and it made me feel worse. (BL told me a long time afterward that he had always thought I was overreacting in the past, but realised the magnitude that day.) But I reassured them that it only takes an hour or so max to pass, so off we went! It took about 15 hours eventually, with no more smoking or drinking...
Anyway, I begged some chocolate from them, which helps. On to Rockvale, with water for a change, and nearby kill!
At Muzandzeni they got out, but there was a searing Berg wind blowing...they just sat and had a quick smoke....
And finally at Talamati! We would see this crazy loner again!
At the unit...heat....
And my private suite, with trusty fan+ceiling fan, and closed windows and curtains and windows to keep the heat out...
Looking at the pic now, it seems there is another side-effect!
Anyway, that was my cell till next morning. All I could eat was a bun with a vienna, which took about 20 minutes in small bites, so good for weight loss.
The others had a fine time on the stoep!