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 can just remember, I was four.

We saw a lot of flying ants in 1976. Luckily not in our house.

That sounds like the best summer! I got a fuzzy warm feeling reading that 😊

There might not have been hysteria but it's certainly generated an entire generation who think they "survived" something truly horrendous. I was ten and remember the drought far more than the heat. The temperature actually exceeded 35C on only five days that summer and the maximum was below 36C. I think people are now seeing others being rightly worried that temperatures in their 40s signal worse to come for future generations. This isn't hysteria, this is educated concern!!!

I wasn’t born until 78 but my mother in law was heavily pregnant with my husband and she constantly reminded me of this when I complained about being hot and pregnant during the summer. 😁

You must be reading a different thread, people are making the exact opposite point to yours, which is they loved the experience and thought it was a fantastic summer and it wasnt such a big deal.

I remember getting water from a standpipe. Was that 1976?

We had a standpipe in the street and my dm collected water every day for drinking and cooking.

I was 13, ds was 11. Our job was to go back and forth to the local stream and fill watering cans and buckets with river water. This stood in the log store until needed to flush the loos, or water the tomatoes/salad beds. It went on for weeks I think.

Compare the temperature maps between 1976 and 2022, 1976 was child's play.

Life was so much simpler then

@bellac11 I'm referring to social media in general, not this thread in particular. So many people in their 70s claiming to have "coped" with the conditions back then so obviously anyone alarmed that things are actually a bit more extreme today must be a wimp. I was a kid and had a great summer too ... but compared with today and future years it was just a bit warm.

@PestorPeston Exactly!!

Were the ladybirds in 76?

@PestorPeston check the scales, particularly the peak temp anomalies.

I was ten. I remember sharing a weekly bath and using that water to flush the toilet. Playing with melting tarmac in the roads. I remember possibly drinking two glasses of pop or squash, instead of the usual one.

Yes although the other main difference is that we didnt have the luxuries we have now, we have comfortable air conditioned cars that dont overheat every 5 minutes. We have fridges and freezers as standard (we didnt have a freezer at the time), we have better equipment, some people and some offices have air con.

So yes the temperatures overall have increased in the past 50 years, but we have made better adaptations. I seem to remember every second item of clothing was polyester too!

Seemed to last forever! Out playing in the Street .Rounders ,Tennis ,trips to the beach.I read it went above 32 c for 2 weeks I think . Remember doing lessons outside in the field . Happy times!

I can remember it all too well... I was 25 and pregnant with my second child. I can see myself now standing in the bath with DD who was 2 and hosing ourselves down with one of those manky old triffid shower things.. DS was born in December so had to go through the whole summer in the heat.

I was a baby, but have pictures of me sitting up in my pram with a sun hat on.

I think people just got on with whatever was thrown at them back then, but if social media had existed then who knows! The 1970s mums could well have been on mumsnet in a panic.

It was indeed ,all the weather men /women would just have had a handful of sun symbols and stuck the randomly around the map 🤣

Lol at all the no hysteria and we just got on with it comments. So many people talk about 1976 in terms of ‘surviving it’ or ‘living through it’ and it’s referred to at any sign of hot weather every year for the last 40 odd years. My family said lots of people complained all through it, kids missed school, lots of chaos with water shortages, roads melting, fires, hospitals were busy, people were fed up. Yes they got on with their days, just like we all will, there’s not much choice, but to say they just got on with it isn’t my families version of events. Rose tinted glasses and all that I think and the usual competition of ‘I’ve been through worse’ that seems part of human nature.

Agree with pp. My mum said she was worried her baby (DB) was going to die because of reports on the news. I wasn't there but it can't have been just an every day matter.

I was pretty young in '76 but I remember going to the local water station to fill up buckets.

Same 🤣🤣🤣. I'm sick of hearing about that bloody heatwave

Jim sitting in the shade with my feet in a cold bowl of water. Bliss! Dan used to sweat by running her wrists under cold water in 76 and it does work.

DM not Dan! 🙄