It's time... Yes we fucking hate summer.

[SapphireSeptember]

Although it hasn't got as hot as it was last year (yet) I feel like I've already had enough. I'm got hayfever, I can't go outside without insects getting in my face and I'm already feeling hot and sticky. I also want to go to bed and someone round here is having an outdoors party. Yes I'm a Scrooge, no I don't care. Roll on autumn and crisp sunny days and frost and apples and brightly coloured leaves (ahh, I feel cooler already.)

@TapasForTwo we could do a house swap

I hate the too bright, white hot heat of summer. It hurts my head and triggers migraines. I actually feel depressed in July, knowing August will probably be unbearable.

Give me autumn’s misty days, coolness and overcast skies. I also love wind and rain. Roll on October.

17 degrees here today
Even when we have hot weather we always have a breeze. 27 degrees where we live would feel very different from 27 degrees in London as we are rural and at a higher altitude.

I'm boiling sweaty and angry.

I posted these tips last year but I will say them again!
If you can afford portable air con for your bedroom then get it! A good night's sleep will make a huge difference to your mood. The white noise from it also drowns out raucous late night bbq's!
A cheaper thing to do is to fill a hot water bottle and freeze it. Take it out at bedtime and it can help a lot to cool you down.
You can play white noise through headphones. Listening to pouring rain and thunderstorms can help!
Shut your living room curtains earlier in the evening. All the better if they are thick ones. It stops the later hot sun getting in and also a more "dusky" atmosphere helps stimulate melatonin which will also help with sleep.
If there is no breeze outside a fan will not cool you down! All it does is circulate warm air and actually raises the overall temperature. Although I am basing this on cheap rotary fans. The more expensive ones may be better.
I have learnt these things over time because yes I hate summer that much!

I have a portable air con unit, admittedly a cheap one which had to fit the tilt and turn windows. The noise is horrendous. I had to buy one last summer or I would not have been able to be in my flat at all, but just to warn people about the noise in case anyone's thinking of buying one and isn't sure.

looking ahead at this week's forecast for London, it's fine. Just really hoping for a long cool summer! Well, I suppose a typical English summer would be fine. it's just the horror of last summer is still fresh in my mind!

They are loud. I don't disagree with you on that. But I find I can sleep fine with it and like i say, it does drown out neighbours parties (which seem frequent round here in summer!) Which is an added bonus for me.

I would be happy with a summer with some hot spells but some cooler weeks too. I think it was the relentlessness last year that got to us all!

I got an air con unit last year; was a a game changer. And agree that it drowns out the noise from neighbours.

Asta ah, you don't dislike heat that much if you fancy a couple of hot spells!

I get utterly pissed off with people regarding me as 'strange',just because I don't enjoy temperatures of 28 degrees C. I can tolerate it for a few days,it's just when it goes on and on,like last year,that I struggle to cope. But I'm not one of these people who is never happy with the weather. If it's 5 degrees outside,you won't hear me complaining. I'm happy with anything up to 22 degrees,but when it goes above that for more than a few days,that is when I complain. Just out of interest,I asked a friend to tell me what was so 'wonderful' about hot weather. His reply? 'It's hot'. OK. That explains it.......

Haha. That's just me being nice and giving a concession to the heat lovers! Because god will they moan if we get no heat at all! My "ideal" summer would be no days above 21. But I can recognise that's not really fair or realistic so instead I allow them a few hot days

It’s only 34c in Texas today, won’t last long. Saturday the sweat was running down my face, ugh.
Upsides:

I still maintain that a big issue in the UK is how late it gets dark and the lack of aircon in a lot of places. I have been to both Egypt and Japan where it hit 39/40 during the day. Both places were dark by 8pm. Which made a huge difference. And both had air con everywhere. In Egypt we stayed in quite an old run down guest house and even they had air con. In both places I could cope with the heat ok because I could cool down easily and the evenings were lovely.

Although I have found lack of air con even worse in some places in Europe. I spent a portion of summer 2016 in Germany and it was absolute hell. Literally nowhere had air con to the point where you'd think it had never been invented! It was so unbearable I actually ended up in tears a few times! So it could be worse!

I was on the thread last year. It was hellish some days. Everyone where I live is complaining about the 'bad' weather whereas I'm secretly relieved. It's mild so not cold but cool enough that I have a dressing gown on and still take a comforting hot water bottle to bed. After last year it's bliss.

Do you not see the irony in your post Enid?

If you like cool weather why the dressing gown and hot water bottle?

It doesn't sound ironic to me. I prefer cooler weather, you have easy options to pop on a dressing gown / use a hot water bottle to get yourself to the right temperature. Whereas when its too hot there's not much you can do to regulate it.

Exactly. I hate hot weather but love a cosy hot water bottle.

I LOVE summer - it has not started here yet.

Wet and warm - yuck! I can't wait to see the sun and for it to be dry xx

I agree, if you're cold you can layer up, put the heating on, wear slippers, use thermals, blankets, hot water bottles, electric blankets etc. You can get into bed, light fires - all sorts.

If you're too hot...? Well tbf after some cool drinks and a fan and removing as many clothes as decency will allow? You're a bit screwed.

... obviously light fires in your fire/turn your electric/gas fire on - not just light fires for the hell of it

So far it’s been pretty “normal” temperatures in London, bar a few hot days - nothing like last year. Even on Sunday (which was meant to be “nice”) there was quite a lot of cloud cover and it wasn’t that hot.

Rainy and cooler here today

Cool here today but terrible pollen count. I need to go and water the garden properly as it's all a bit dry.

I find that winter clothes make me feel worse about my shape and size. The bulky layers add lbs and make me look like the Michelin man. Add to that the ugly, frumpy styles that seem to be the only available options and it's hard to feel well dressed. Summer is much easier as the clothes are light and better looking and don't make you feel suffocated.

I'm the opposite, I love soft, snuggly, drapey knits and think they are really flattering. Whereas summer clothes mean being exposed, having to wear suncream, checking your bra straps aren't showing, hair removal.