1976

[Georgeskitchen]

Who is old enough to remember 1976?
The never ending heatwave. I was 15 at the time. It was pretty boiling hot. Water shortages with stand pipes to get water.The government even had a drought minister!
Can't remember any hysteria,( no social media back then, thank god)
All I can remember, growing up in a famous holiday resort, was a great summer with fabulous weather for weeks on end. Probably one of the best years of my life.
Anyone relate?

I was 9 and can mainly remember we had a Chopper bike new that year - one to share between six of us siblings. A purple one. I never got a look in as the youngest.

I know it probably wasn’t record breaking in terms of temperature but I do recall the heatwave went on and on and on. There might not have been the hype we have now with social media and 24 hour news etc but it definitely was a talking point and the news was covering it all the time. At my school we did a big project on Water and why it’s so important. So yes, I do remember being aware it was a weird year!

I was in utero as my Mum is often fond of reminding me. She also talks about the ladybird invasion.

I was 9, almost 10 and it was the best summer ever. I went to the local outdoor swimming pool every single day (once school broke up) . Wish I handled the heat as well now, although I didn't live in a tiny, south facing, top floor studio flat back then😆

I was 18, I loved it. I wore my skimpy clothes iirc, not like now where I have to cover head to toe because of my actinic keratosis(skin damage from sun) probably acquired from the summer of 76.

It was weeks of above 30C straight. So no, not 40C but a lot more consistent

It was the year we got married and we had decided for our honeymoon to go camping and hiking in the Lake District. Well, many of the lakes had shrunk to swamps and the mosquito population had exploded. Every time we exposed an inch of skin mosquitoes would zoom in. Not very romantic! Then on day three I got my period, so we decided to come back to our flat in London and chill out which was great.
I remember it was the drought that caused more concern than the heat, and the tally afterwards of the tens of thousands of trees that didn’t make it.

I was having this conversation with DS yesterday, I was 10, my summer was spent out playing, day after day.
We played, we built dens, we cycled, we had mass football matches. We had a holiday at Butlins but that was in early May. DM couldn't afford school holiday bookings so we always had a week off school for the family holiday.
I remember that summer so well. The pinnacle of my childhood, the weather, the freedom, both together made it ideal.

I was 12 I remember the ladybirds and having a season ticket to our local and much missed outside pool and going every day after school. Lessons outside on the school field every day too . We only had weekly baths and all three of us kids used the same water. Thankfully I was the eldest and went first. We went to France for August and it was roasting there too . My nana used to write to us in France with updates on the water situation. It was an endless summer in my memory.

The office where I worked became impossibility hot during the afternoon (huge windows, no aircon) so they made us come in to work at 7 so we could go home early. The hoise was uninsulated so the bedrooms were like ovens. We took our camping mats outside and slept in the garden! Was very grateful to already own lots of cheesecloth garments - 70s high fashion!

I was in my first job and it was pretty miserable having to commute and work. However, as people have pointed out, it was never as hot as is forecast for the next three days.

YABU

Firstly temps didn't reach 39/40 degrees - were mostly 32 with a high of 35 point something.

Secondly there was a 20% increase in excess deaths that year.

But carry on with your our generation just got on with it rose tinted nostalgia.

I was 4 remember having a picnic in the garden with the little boy from next door and our teddies and my luncheon meat sandwiches had dried up

the grass was yellow everywhere

it was a different time I think people were more stoic

I'd just left primary and moved to the other side of town to a new build on a building site next to fields

We had a whale of a time playing in the fields etc. I remember the standpipes but don't think we had them at ours

Same! She popped me out in May though so maybe not too bad. Then was back in her size 6 bikini ... 🙄

I was born at the end of 1975, during the heatwave my mum said she left me in my pram under a huge willlow tree in the garden, think I spent most of the summer out there. She's convinced the reason I've got long limbs is because I was trying to grab the branches with my hands and feet.

My mum was 26 and working in an old government building. She remembers it as miserable: sweaty, horrible, sticky man made 70s fabrics, heels getting stuck in melting tarmac, trying to count money that just stuck to everything because everyone was sweaty, feeling constantly exhausted from the heat, prices rising because crops were failing and animals were dying of heatstroke. She is a sun lover, but hates that summer with a passion. A major memory for her is when it finally started raining she stood outside with my dad in just their underwear and danced in the glorious, cooling rain!

I was pregnant with my first child that summer Luckily the summer Olympic Games were on and broadcast during the night ( usually no 24 hr TV in those days, so a real treat) so I used to watch them all night and spend all day in bed

I remember everyone was worried about water shortages.

I was at boarding school then, and in our baths they painted a black line in the bath (not all the way round). You weren't allowed to have the level of your bath water go above this line !!

Oh god... the ladybirds, yes! Billions of them, everywhere.

One of my first childhood memories. I was 5. My brothers and I walked around in our underpants, sitting in the paddling pool and spraying eachother with the hose

my mum was sitting inside behind closed curtains unable to bear it, my dad who is a bit Mediterranean was cheerful and calm and enjoying the summer

That was 1975 ! My in laws went on holiday to Buxton that year , and it snowed just before a cricket match !

I remember the ladybirds, hundreds of them on railings or window sills. And I’m sure I remember Blue Peter showing water saving tips like turning off the tap when brushing your teeth. It was a happy summer, we lived in a resort and me and my brother cycled to the beach in the morning and stayed all day.

I was 16 and my summer job was working in a chippy! It was so hot but I earned enough to pay for a summer holiday all on my own ( to Jersey!)

I was 11 years old and living in a holiday town in Ireland .Everyday all used to congregate in large groups on the beach .I can still remember the music from the Juke box blaring from the arcades . Happy days indeed!

I remember it. Brown grass, stand pipes, Abba's Dancing Queen. Going to work early in the morning at a small local b&b and then down to the coast to spend my earnings.
Can't remember anyone panicking about it, maybe my dad moaning about the plants in the garden but otherwise it's a summer that stays in my memory as just great!

What's happening now is of a different order, though.