Sticky Nights and Sleepless Fights - 5

The heatwaves keep coming in Europe this 2026—this time, it’s about surviving the heat in the bedroom without air conditioning. You take a bath before bed, hoping it will calm your body. You open windows and doors, but the bedroom remains above 30 degrees at night—sleep is elusive. You doze off, wake up, reach for your iPhone, scroll, send a message, read a few, skim the news, maybe even film a "cosy" sweaty video for a friend. Doze again, sleep a little, wake up drenched, perhaps take another bath, don’t dry off completely—the damp skin cools you. Back in bed, still awake, you check your phone again, start a book for the third time, and finally collapse from exhaustion. You sleep, then wake up drenched again. The clock strikes 7—time to get up, go to work, utterly unrested. Colleagues at the office have had the same sweltering night. We suffer together. Will it be worse next year? In five years? It’s hard to imagine.

"Night Sweat Symphony"
The sheets are damp, the air is thick,
A restless sleep, a fevered trick.
The fan just hums a mocking tune,
While moonlight glows like afternoon.
The phone’s a siren, cold and bright,
A fleeting escape from the stifling night.
Each turn, each toss, a sticky fight,
The pillow’s warm, the skin is tight.
Oh, cruel summer, spare my rest,
Or drown me deep in sweat’s bequest.
The dawn arrives with no reprieve,
Just another day to barely breathe.


Damp sheets cling to skin,
the fan sighs hot and useless—
night melts into dawn.


iPhone’s glow so cold,
yet the air is thick with heat—
sleep is just a ghost.


Bathwater cools me,
but the room is still a furnace—
sweat writes on my back.