The stand pipes were the highlight of '76, along with the Damned, the Pistols, the Buzzcocks & Slaughter & the Dogs. At the end of the day is was a drought though, we were largely enjoying temperatures in the 70s Fahrenheit, (non of your metric rubbish, I like cubits & furlongs misen) . These temperatures are a clear sign of global warming. 37 degrees Centigrade is just short of 100 in Fahrenheit.
All joking apart, staying indoors or at least the shade and keeping out of the full sun at the hottest part of the day (12-ish to around 4 ) is the way to go. Those on here saying "in the Med you can go into air conditioned shops and bars or use a swimming pool and "stop for ice cream every 50 metres" clearly only experience this kind of weather on holidays and not actually lived there. For most people away from touristy areas who work in this climate swimming pools and ice creams and air conditioning is not reality. However they do have the sense to stay out of the sun, hence the continental hours way of working. I can only imagine what life in rural central and Southern Italy must have been like for farm and factory workers before fridges existed (virtually no rural houses have cellars) hence all milk was made into cheeses and most meat pork and beef cured and smoked UHT milk is still more prevalent in supermarkets than fresh milk. Harvest time which happens/has already happened her as the last 3 weeks have been round the clock Combine harvesters, and baling machines but it is fully mechanised. Imagine 10 12 hours in the fields cutting with scythes , loading onto wagons to bring to the threshing floors in this sort of heat. In a few weeks they will be ploughing and sewing the next crop . Again, they used to use oxen for that job and on rock hard clay soil it must have been a nightmare. Instead the UK gets the 'mad dogs and Englishmen' madness where everyone drives to a beach to sit under the blazing sun shine, compounded by drinking copious amounts of alcohol. (the two most important things to avoid!) Some things like train disruption are unavoidable in the UK as unlike Southern Europe the rails are made of a steel that has a high coefficient of expansion so liable to buckle. Short of replacing every mile of track in existence. Here the Frecciarossa continue to run at speeds of up to 190mph. EDIT: Our small restored farmhouse is traditional build. Very thick walls, small windows inset so window ledges are on the outside and external wooden shutters which all help keep direct sunlight entering the house when the sun is high. All is designed to keep houses cooler in summer and warm in winter. But this only works to a certain extent. Even with additions like ceiling fans in the bedrooms, lots of modern insulation on the roof (traditional houses only had minimal roof insulation) the heat build up over weeks of prolonged high temperatures and teh thick walls act like storage radiators and trap the heat. Our bedroom is now around 30C constantly and even if the weather turns cool it will take days for the place to cool down even with all two windows open. Oh! and we have had two thunderstorms in two months and bone dry/sunny the rest of the time
Farmers have already been out on their tractors cutting the hay here too @Tekkytyke . Love my drive to and from work seeing the golden fields and the hay bales. Seems very early though, schools haven't even broken up. Now I just need some tips to stop my dog wanting to sit on me , I don't need a hot water bottle this westher!
I don't think it's that bad because it's a dry heat. It isn't humid. I don't know whether that's because the extra heat burns away the humidity.
Went on annual club trip in Southport yesterday. Crikey, those couple of hours ont beach were warm I can tell thi. Just been out and at 930 it's bouncing already int Tarn.