Mr. Arbuthnot, an expert weatherman, was interviewed by the Sun Chronicle. His weather report is as follows: “It may become “steamy,” “sultry” and even “stifling,” but never “hot.” The temperature will soar, of course. It will set records. it will be a record-breaking heat wave. The average person will swelter, of course. Hence the phrase “sweltering temperatures.” They will also roast, broil, fry and steam. They may also sweat it out, but not in polite company. These people will seek relief by flocking, en masse to the beach, to the lakeside or to neighborhood pools. The roads to these places will be jammed, moving at a crawl and populated by exasperated motorists. For those who can’t escape, they will beat the heat by not going outside which will cause utilities to be strained, overloaded and working to capacity. This will cause scattered outages, perhaps, or possibly rolling blackouts.The heat wave will finally break thanks to pop-up thunderstorms and scattered thunder showers. Mr Arbuthnot’s final words to his audience, ‘It’s not the heat. It’s the humidity.'”

I figure you’ve guessed today is cliché day which reminds me of the best principal I ever worked with. His only imperfection was his reliance on clichés. I used to keep count whenever he spoke to the staff and sometimes he reached double digits. My mother always used to say someone had a tough row to hoe. When I was young, I had no idea what she was talking about. Why would anyone hoe a row? He’s a good egg was one my father often used. I knew my dad was complimenting whomever, but why a good egg was what I wondered. When I cracked open my first bad egg in Ghana, I totally understood. What I don’t get still though is why the farm metaphors.

Animals seem to be cliché targets. I’m guessing it is because they can’t complain. Somebody works like a dog, goes on wild goose chases, plays when the cat’s away, does something whole hog, waits until the cows come home, is stubborn as a mule and strong as an ox. My favorite is the straw which broke the camel’s back.

I slept like a log last night after burning the midnight oil. I woke up fresh as a daisy and happy as a clam. With the AC on, I am in the lap of luxury; however, today I turned older than dirt!