It was hot for a couple of days last week in St. John’s. It was a real heat of almost 30 degrees. At least we call it hot because we just aren’t used to it. We complain all winter here on the east coast of the island of Newfoundland about the rain, the snow, the sleet, and the slush. Then in the summer we rail against the sun and warm temperatures and rise up in complaint: “My God, the heat!”

Well, we don’t know what heat is out here in the North Atlantic. Eight or nine years ago my good wife and I were in China. I had been there before, about twenty years earlier. My first visit was for work, but this time I wanted my wife to see China before it changed again. It always does.

My first visit to the Peoples Republic was in the month of December, just before Christmas, but my second time round I visited during high summer. What a difference. Temperatures in the mid-30s were the order of the day the second time round. The heat was brutal.

One of the places where we really felt that heat was the former Portuguese colony of Macau which is now part of China. It is known today as one of the great gambling capitals of the world. I’m not a gambler so I didn’t make a rush for the nearest casino to place a bet. We walked around Machau looking for what is left of the so-called Portuguese influence on architecture and the like. It is still there but barely. Machau became part of the People’s Republic of China back in 1999. Today, Portuguese is spoken as a first or second language by only 2.3 percent of the population. It didn’t take long. It is a very Chinese place and very technologically advanced.

None of that mattered to us on what was a hot July day. With sweat pouring off us we walked through an open-air market that was selling umbrellas “Thank God for His tender mercies.” Umbrellas were just what the doctor ordered. We had to get out of the sun. We got one and it was a blessed but only partial relief from the July sun. It was enough of a relief though to let us scurry off to the nearest casino which was wonderfully air-conditioned. That casino was The Venetian. It was a magnificently cooled place. God bless AC. There was no more talk between us of Portuguese architecture or Portuguese food. We spent the rest of the afternoon cooling at The Venetian. We played the slots briefly and won nothing and we had something to eat. Mostly we just looked around in comfort indoors at all the wonders of the 21st air-conditioned century. It was a good day.

This summer here in Newfoundland during that hot two-day period that I mentioned I was rummaging around in the back of the hall closet for something and in the middle of standing golf clubs and hockey sticks I came across a tiny folding umbrella. It was never meant for Newfoundland winds or our heavy rain. It did represent shelter because when I opened it, emblazoned neatly across the umbrella was the word, Macau. A flood of memories swept over me.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]