Summer is in top form, temperatures are climbing towards 40 degrees again.
No fun for anyone who is out and about in the city or sitting to the fullest with a mask over their mouth and nose.
What if the air conditioning fails?
Then only a device that makes wind can help.
We recommend a hand fan - a simple instrument with an extremely efficient design that, when folded, fits into any handbag.
The good thing: Hand fans don't need electricity.
They are unplugged, so to speak, totally analogue.
This is one of the reasons why we are convinced that every survival kit should contain a copy.
Petra Kirchhoff
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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In any case, since this summer we always have a fan at hand.
One in bright red (9.90 euros from the premium mail-order company for “the good things”) with poles and a spike made from sturdy pear wood;
the fan blade is made of a solid cotton cloth.
The Frankfurt design office Justfans, which has the Wedler made in bright colors from recycled plastic in Hesse (6.95 euros), has recently also been promising long-lasting fans with the right "boom".
That would be the regional variant.
Either way, handling is easy.
With the fan pin clamped between the thumb and the remaining fingers, the semicircle can be set in motion with ease.
Then evaporative cooling comes into play.
Most people probably know the term from biology class.
Trees draw water through their roots and release it back into the air through their leaves and needles.
The water evaporates, and so it is much cooler in the forest than on the meadow next door, for example.
The human body works similarly.
When we are hot, we start to sweat.
The body wants to get rid of accumulated heat, and it does so through the pores of the skin.
This process can be accelerated with wind, the supplied air is not cooler, but because the heat is transported away faster, it feels cooler.
Incidentally, several variations are possible when weaving, each with its own message.
Short, jagged movements (like a bitch) by a woman's hand signal: Careful, stay away from me.
The slow and gallant fan-waving, on the other hand, provokes the question: do you have plans for this evening?
If the chosen one doesn't respond, she can turn the tables and proactively wave at them.
After all, in the heat everyone is grateful for a little breeze.
And who knows, maybe this will even result in a liaison for life.
There would then no longer be any fear of hot days.
Because then she did it like the ancient Egyptians.
Lay down lazily in a deck chair and let your loved one fan you all day long with large palm leaves in wide, slow swings.
Evaporative cooling can be so beautiful.