Page 8 of One Hot Summer

Knock knock.

“Have you fallen asleep in there?” Sarah called from the other side of the door. “Let me in, I need a wee.”

I opened the door, and she saw the phone in my hand.

“You don’t need to hide your phone, you spoon. You’re allowed to communicate with your boyfriend.”

She sat on the toilet and I admired the bathroom, running my hand along the bath.

“It’s all marble,” I observed. “Marble floor, tiles, bath, sink, everything.”

“I know, it’s gorgeous. Nice and cool in here, too.”

It was. The air conditioning seemed to have been working very nicely. I walked out of the bathroom, past the beds and out to the balcony, where the heat hit me. Our room faced another building, so there was not much of a view. It was a very narrow street, so there was no breeze coming in through the door either, making it very humid.

In hot, humid weather, there are two types of girls. There are the girls who can wear their long hair free-flowing and held back out of their eyes with their sunglasses on top of their head. They can also have a full face of make-up, without the risk of a sweaty upper lip and panda eyes from mascara melt. Hot, sunny weather suits them. Sarah falls into this category. And then there are the other girls. The ones whose hair sticks to their sun-creamed shoulders so it needs to be tied back in a boring, unflattering ponytail. They can’t wear foundation, as the sweat causes it to streak down their faces. Any attempt at eyeliner, and they look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. Their upper lips sweat profusely, and they can’t walk around in skirts because their legs chafe. Unfortunately for me, I fall into this category of women. I was made for cold winters, snuggled in fluffy blankets and slipper socks.

“That’s better.” Sarah squeezed next to me on the balcony. “Where shall we go first? Shall we just go for a walk and then find somewhere to eat? I know you’re dying for an authentic pizza cooked by actual Italians, and not from the frozen food section at Tesco.”

“I’m in Italy, this is my dream come true!” I said, fanning myself with a tissue I found in my pocket. “Pizza is top of my list of things to do. Sightseeing comes later. Pizza over Pisa.”

“Okay, let’s freshen up and head out before Maria brings us more biscotti.”

Back inside, I dug my little bag out of my suitcase and transferred over some necessities for walking around in a hot, foreign country. My little handheld fan would be coming everywhere with me, I do love a fan. I made sure to have a few euros too, just in case some places didn’t accept card payment. You never know. Once we were ready, we headed out of the room and downstairs. There was a lot of banging and raised voices in the background. We could make out Maria shouting. Poor Leonardo. Perhaps I could sneak him into my suitcase to bring home with me.

We stepped out of the door, through what felt like a heat curtain, and out onto the cobbled street. Maria’s rage could no longer be heard.

“So,” Sarah said. “Where shall we go first?”

She had downloaded an app, which was full of tourist information, locations and things to do locally. It linked with Google Maps so we could pinpoint our exact location and work out where we were heading. Her sunglasses were on top of her head, holding her glossy blonde hair back as she focused on the map. Not an ounce of sweat or glimpse of red on her face. Lucky sod.

“Wherever you like. It’s only four o’clock so not time to eat yet.”

I was hoping she would suggest going for gelato or a coffee, and sitting outside a coffee shop. Something nice, easy, relaxed and in the shade. There was plenty of time to do tourist stuff, but for today it would be nice to stay near the hotel and get used to the heat.

“Ooh! Let’s walk to the Colosseum! It’s only a mile away!”

A mile, in this heat? I will have burned off my pizza before I’ve even eaten it if we walk over there. I hope I don’t get grumpy. Heat and hunger can be a dangerous combination.

“Let’s do it.” I smiled, determined to make it an amazing holiday for her.

Luckily, being from Yorkshire, we were used to cobbled roads trying to trip us up. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted Sarah’s navigational skills, even if we were in a foreign country and relying solely on an app. Not quite like the Ancient Romans did.

“Have you seen this?” she asked. “Look at the walls.”

They were centuries old and looked like a strong gust of wind could blow them down, however, they had managed to survive this long. Maybe the Romans could consider invading England again and fixing our roads and walls. I’m sure no one would complain.

“Yeah, very old.” I was not sure how one was supposed to compliment a wall. “Very… bricky?” Although these weren’t bricks. They were made from stone. I have no idea how to entertain my history-loving friend.

“No, look!” This time she pointed. Carved into the wall was a cross. A crucifix. It was very worn, hard to see, but clear enough to make out once you’d spotted it. “I wonder if there is an old church nearby that we could look at.”

“It’s a very religious city. I’ll bet there are more churches than coffee shops.”

The sun was hitting my shoulders now, and I was beginning to feel the burn, even through my factor thirty suncream.

We knew we were heading to the centre of Rome, as the further we walked, the busier the streets became. Suddenly, we were walking amongst a crowd of people, which felt quite overwhelming. Sarah walked ahead, with her hand behind her back for me to hold, so we wouldn’t lose each other. We had been warned by friends to keep our bags close to us and away from pickpockets, which were apparently rife in the city.

We decided to take a right down a quiet and narrow lane for a bit of breathing space. There was a tall building to one side of us, which had small shops on the ground floor and what must have been four floors of apartments above it, with shutters on all the windows. I was not sure what the old building on the other side was, though. Sarah had put her phone away now, for fear of it being snatched, so she wasn’t too sure where we were either.

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