St Louis Cardinals @ San Francisco Giants (game 3)

For me, one of the joys of San Francisco is that it never really gets that hot.  I can rely on it being in the 70s Fahrenheit (low to mid-20s Celsius) most of the time, getting a little chilly in the evenings at the ball park.

I think today has been the hottest day I've experienced in my life.

At game time today, the temperature was 40C/104F - in the shade.  Even at 7pm, it'd cooled off to only 32C/90F, and the excessive heat advisory ended at 9pm, but it's still 30C/86F now at 9.15pm.  The forecasts say that's going to be it for the heat, and it'll all return to normal tomorrow and thereafter, thankfully.

The usher in my section 219 was particularly good - about a quarter of the seats were in the shade and the rest in the direct sun at the start of the game, and she was reseating people and moving people around to keep them out of the sun if they wanted to.  It seems to me that there's a lot of common sense deployed in this country at awkward times like these - it makes no difference what your precise seat allocation is, just as long as everybody can watch the game in relative comfort and have a good time.

Many of the inter-inning features were cancelled today, replaced by health advisories on how to recognise heat stroke and dehydration, warnings on continuing to rehydrate even when you don't feel thirsty, and especially imploring children, the elderly and those who were unwell to keep drinking water.

Cool-off areas had been set up on the lower and upper levels - no aircon on those levels. Inside the club area was packed too, as many people chose to stay indoors in the air-conditioned areas, although even those were struggling with the heat and the number of people.

There are a lot of Cardinals supporters at the games, and many of them were completely happy to sit out in the sun - but I suppose this sort of weather is more common in the central regions.  One lady in my row had even brought a plant mister with her and filled it up with cold water and was willing to give people a quick spray if they wanted!

After the game, I was resting inside the club area before facing the heat outside again and met Eileen - the lady from the ticket window who sold me all my tickets!

The journey back to the hotel was warm.  However, there was a nice breeze on the Muni Metro platform at Powell St. so I lingered there a while to cool down.  With this being a day game, I was back in the centre of town at 5pm and so there was a massive queue for the cable car, instead of being able to hop on one almost immediately.  So instead I took the 30 bus back the way I had come.  It was a bendy bus - the bendy buses are brilliant, as they have really good aircon.

I had dinner at Boudin Bakery - I'm glad I booked, as it was packed with walkups being told of a 45 minute minimum wait for a table.  Unfortunately, their ice cream machine had broken down, so they weren't able to serve any desserts at all - quite a thing to lose on the hottest day of the year.  However, although it's close by, I don't think I can manage any anyway - it's too hot even to eat ice cream.