It has been chokingly hot this past fortnight. People have been opening all the windows and doors in their houses searching for the tiniest of draughts, scuttling into the darkest corners and hiding their dogs indoors lest they pass out from the heat. Gardens are yellow, filled with shriveled plants.

Some people haven’t said it, but most have:

This time it’s too hot.

We were away for the week and as we drove back towards our house, I saw my hanging basket. Or what was left of it. I had loved that basket this year. It was the only thing in the garden I was able to say I had done myself. It looked like the type you would see hanging beside the door of a quaint little cottage. But now, it was a scraggly mess. I submerged it in a full sink of water and went to bed, not really believing that would work. But the next morning I looked and the flowers I’d given up on were fighting their way back. The water had worked it’s magic.

I have felt like that limp, dying basket through this heat. My legs have been like buckling, shaking plastic straws. My balance has gone. I spent the holiday doing as little as I could, shying away from being in the full sun for too long. As the end of the week drew near, my mum’s cousin offered his car to get me down to the place I had given up on ever reaching again. With a deal of help, I was in the cold water I had been craving all week. Like my hanging basket, my limpness faded away and for the first time in ages I was able to feel strong as I walked away from the water. That moment was fleeting but I’ll treasure it forever.

When you think about the people in your life, is there someone who needs you to bring them to the water, whatever that might mean for them? All I could do was immerse my plants, but another person with the means made my life better.

What do you need right now? Or what do you have that you could use to help someone else?

It can be as small as a cup of tea. Or a watering can.