The Canaries in My Coal Mine

This weekend marked a great seasonal milestone here in the desert…

… the return of the Pakistani cricket players in the empty lot behind our apartment!

You see, I use the level of pick-up cricket activity visible from our window as a gauge for whether it’s too hot for me to go running outside during daylight hours. From June through September, you’re hard-pressed to see more than the odd batsman or two - those rare die-hard fanatics who just can’t enjoy their day off without playing an… inning (?) or two of the gentleman’s game, 120F temps be damned.

But lo and behold, I woke up yesterday morning and there were several dozen Pakistani cricket players even at the usually sweltering hour of 9 AM! Encouraged by this auspicious sign, I checked the temperature and it was only 91F - totally runable weather.

As I jogged by them a few minutes later at the beginning of what proved to be a quite tolerable 6-miler, I gave them a silent salute for their service.

Coal mines have canaries… here in the desert, we have cricketers.