Standing in the blazing hot sun of the 4th of January 2040, too close to another old man softly muttering something about offending the Sun gods. But we both stare in some mixture of admiration and horror at the gigantic concrete cooling stacks that even in this heat gave off traces of vapour, high above us. 

Here it was, at long last: The long-promised nuclear power that would make energy too cheap to meter and free us all from the dominion of energy mined and burnt – entering the air to vex us. 

I took a bus most of the way out here. No question about riding in this heat – yet another day of 40° temperatures. Six days already this summer and I believe we can expect ten more before Summer grinds to its close – sometime in April.

I walked the last quarter kilometre in that heat, feeling my heart not liking it one bit, and wondering if I would just suddenly white out and pass out, or simply sit down suddenly – wherever I happen to be – and wait for it to pass. It’s a feeling I get a lot these days, and it’s a feeling I get most often when I’m baking in the hot sun.

But here we stand, staring at the vapour from the cooling towers venting steam from a heat exchanger fueled by a reactor generating all of the electricity we’re using to cool ourselves down because things have gotten so incredibly hot. 

It took about as long as predicted: Ten years. In many circumstances that would be considered fast. Australians took to it as we take to hopeless projects generally in this country, and we got it all done.

I guess we should be proud of that – even despite the mutterings of the old man next to me. He sounds a bit sun-struck, echoing how I’m feeling inside my own skull, under this unrelenting, unforgiving, unnatural heat.

Time to head home, draw the blinds, turn on the air conditioning, and enjoy the cool and dark in my bedroom.