I get cranky when it's hot

Sometimes, it makes me write grumpy e-mails. I got into an argument with a Toronto radio host last summer. I'll call him "Expressway Eddie."

Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005
From: madamerouge
Subj: "normal?"
To: radio station comments
CC: Expressway Eddie

It is 4:35 p.m. on Monday July 25th. The current on-air personality is demonstrating an exceptional amount of insensitivity regarding the heat. He just referred to a caller as "normal" because she enjoys the heat. So people who suffer from extreme heat are abnormal?

Let's see how he feels if one of his grandparents dies in an oven-like apartment, or a loved one suffers an acute asthma attack due to air pollution. Let's also see if he changes his tune if he loses his indoor air-conditioned job for an outdoor job like roofing or road construction. This weather is no laughing matter--it kills! Would he belittle those who discuss extreme cold when it takes the lives of homeless people?

I would expect this kind of garbage from Fox radio
but not a Canadian broadcaster.

Respectfully,
M.Rouge
Toronto

_____


Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005
From: Expressway Eddie
Subj: "normal?"
To: madamerouge

Hi madame...you missed the earlier break when I said, there are exceptions! I'm not that insensitive.

Appreciate you listening.
Eddie

_____


Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005
From: madamerouge
Subj: "normal?"
To: Expressway Eddie

I heard the entire schpiel. However, your little caveat at the beginning was quickly obliterated when you later described the one female caller (the one who was rejoicing in this 96F heat) as "normal." Using such a loaded term can only leave some people feeling excluded. To me, this is the equivalent of calling a recent immigrant to Toronto (say, from a hot country in Asia or Africa) "abnormal" for having trouble coping with sub-zero temperatures in January. Editorialize all you want about how we shouldn't complain about the weather. I agree with you. Just be ready to be questioned when you use a term like "normal."

A few decades ago, it was considered "normal" for the infirm to be sterilized, Aboriginal people to be put in Christian schools against their will, and for homosexuality to be in the criminal code.

Personally, I think Margaret Atwood had it right when she wrote The Edible Woman. The novel is set in a Canadian city that is all but named as Toronto, and she wrote that it was "too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter." Amen.

Comments

Miss Thistle said…
I fear I may kill someone on the streetcar this week if it's crowded. All the stinky pits and hot breath are gonna do me in.

Is jail air-conditioned?
Jason said…
I never thought I'd be counting the days until summer was over. I used to save that only for winter.
madamerouge said…
tash: not sayin'

thistle: ROTFLMAO. I may join you.

jason: but what about the people wearing jackets and sweaters right now
Ummmmm...I do actually like the heat more than the cold. At least my apt isn't freezing now.
Anonymous said…
You sound like a angry lesbian.
Normlr said…
Are there any other kind?
Nölff said…
but I thought 96F was normal. Isn't it?
It is where I'm at here at least. Well, more like 98 degrees. That's normal. A HOT day is more like 107 with a heat index of 115.
toobusyliving said…
There is actually a gross hot wind outside right now
Timmy said…
bitterness! get a damn swimming pool and get over it. or come and swim at my house and shut it!
Butchie said…
Rouge, are you on your period?
is the heat index the humidex?
teh l4m3 said…
I think it's abnormal for radio personalities to exhibit a greater amount of intelligence than one would expect from a tea cozy.
Anonymous said…
I'm so proud of you for laying it down! What else can we get you to do when it's hot outside?
Butchie said…
MR's breasts are sensative and he's crampy.
Jason said…
LOL @ butchie
St. Dickeybird said…
I always wondered how one spells 'schpiel'.
Thank you.
:)
Butchie said…
OMG! I need chocolate!
Shora said…
In winter I want summer, in summer I want winter. No, I know. Torontonian sydrome.

Fuuuuck, try being a woman with hot flashes!
Shora said…
addendum: Yes, I'm far too young for hot flashes. I must have been a bad man in a former life.

(ps... I'm tipsy)
sirbarrett said…
Wuerden zie schwimmen gehen? Ich moechte gern ein Spiele mit dich! Zur Koolenzentrum!

OK, I made up that last word. Apparently this radio station didn't have a cooling station (or anything cool about it at all) because everyone there was going about their "normal" business, stoking the fire so that they could warm up around it while it was 35 degree celcius WITHOUT the humidity outside.
Anonymous said…
wow, are you still talking about that?

hilarious

Freeway Frank
or as Natasha refered to me as
"the F'in IDIOT"
weeknights on Mix FM

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