Parisians are finding creative ways to cool off

PARIS -- The motto of the moment in sizzling Paris could be "modesty be damned."

Struggling through a Sahara-like heat wave without the luxury of air conditioning, Parisians are throwing open their windows, giving an intimate glimpse into each other's lives. Some sleep on cool tiled floors, in wet T-shirts, or walk around in underwear or less, in view of neighbors across narrow streets.

"Every window offers a spectacle," said Claude Hattab, an Israeli visiting his three children in the steamy capital.

Unlike, say, sweltering Hong Kong or Houston, where the hum of air conditioners is the norm, Paris rarely has gruesomely hot summers like this, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees for days. Therefore few people have air conditioning.

'They shouldn't look'

"At night, we sleep naked," said Fred, a policeman taking his lunch break with a companion who cooled her feet in a fountain. "If the neighbors don't want to be shocked, then they shouldn't look."

With windows open, neighbors hear each other's phone calls, passionate moments and television choices. The other day "A Fistful of Dollars" echoed down the streets, with Clint Eastwood dubbed into French.

"You hear a lot of screaming, couples are arguing, it's hot, and the windows are open. Everyone's on edge," said Hakim Benabdallah, splayed out under a parasol on the artificial beach that Paris City Hall has opened on the banks of the Seine River.

How does he beat the heat?

"I take a shower with a T-shirt and sleep with it on," he said. "I also suck ice cubes."

Laurence Perani, a receptionist at French power giant EDF, is sleeping on the tiled floor of her dining room.

"It's cooler than the bed," she said.

Her friend, Valerie Masson, is luckier: The florist where she works has air conditioning. But at home, "I put ice cubes in a towel and rub it up my arms and legs."

Deadly consequences

The heat is having deadly consequences, too. At the Bois Joli retirement home in the southern Paris suburb of Grigny, five people aged 89 to 96 died in the heat over the weekend, "despite intravenous drips, fans and atomizers," said administrator Patrick Sivert.

Retail giant Carrefour said it has run out of air conditioners.

Usually, electricity consumption dips in France in summer as companies and their workers take vacation. This summer, however, EDF says consumption is up about 10 percent over last year -- a possible sign that air conditioning is gaining ground.

Policeman Fred, still modest enough to withhold his surname, says he uses "manual air conditioning -- opening the window. It's the ancient way of doing things."