Does anyone remember the 2003 heatwave?

[Ursulla]

Sat here with the fan on takes me back to the summer when I bought it - it was the last one in the shop because even though it was only June it was already baking hot. I was a barmaid and it got so hot we had to hose down the barrels in the cellar. We hosed each other down as well, on slow days. It didn't matter, everyone was sweating anyway. I would walk home at 1 am when my shift finished and it was still roasting hot. I don't know if it ever got colder in any 24 hour period. Maybe at 3am, but it couldn't have been for long because the sun came up at 4.30.

When I wasn't working I sunbathed on the flat roof of my house, other neighbours were doing the same, and the parks were full of people sprawling around. It was a long, hot, languid time.

Anyone else?

that was the first year I went in a car with aircon! One of my oldest friends hosted us in Avignon and her little car had aircon, it was a revelation!

that was the first year I went in a car with aircon! One of my oldest friends hosted us in Avignon and her little car had aircon, it was a revelation!

I think it was not long after I changed mine to one with, I can't imagine not having it now 🥵

Yes I remember - my GCSE year so the exam hall was vile. At home I just lay in misery under the tree in the garden, refusing to move. Then we went camping in France in a car with no functioning air con ...

Me to! Pregnant that is, not in Pais, and I delivered in September so pretty big during that heatwave and it was bloody awful!

I remember, my son turned 1 that year and we lived in a block of flats with a little balcony, I’d sit out on it and he used to sit in the washing up bowl and play… Twas a very cute time. He’s 23 now and has just come home completely wankered, not so cute anymore.

DS was 6. We spent 2 weeks in the UK with my parents and they pulled a few strings to get him into the village primary school in scorching July. Those glorious last two weeks with sports day, school trip and fundraiser barbecue. I lent a hand to show my appreciation.
Then DH joined us and we spent a week in the Lake District and a week touring Scotland. Swam in the North Sea, saw the Edinburgh Tattoo and spent a long twilit evening on the Isle of Skye.
Such lovely memories (apart from the killer midges). Thanks for reminding me, OP.

Don’t remember 2003 at all! I was working in an office that didn’t have air con at the time but nothing has left a lasting memory!

Same here
Then with a new born...

I just went and looked at the weather records for Aberporth - I could only find one covering whole months but it said the high in both July and August of that year was 19 degrees. Pleasant but not a heatwave.

There is also a map of Europe showing France as absolutely red hot but the Midlands/North of England and parts of West Wales are just normal or even slightly colder than average. That might explain why so many people who recall it happened to be in France.

I remember the 2003 heatwave. I was pregnant with DS 😊

Yes! I remember experiencing car air con for the first time in a hire car in Spain in about 2002. I used to dread getting into hot cars in the summer, I was always travel sick and the heat made it so much worse - it used to be suffocating and the fans would just weakly blow warm air at you! You had to have the windows open and be buffeted about.

Could not believe how well air con worked. I thought it was actual magic. We take it for granted now.

Yes. I do remember it, but I don't remember it being all that bad. I know the office I worked in closed for the day on Wednesday 6th August, as that was predicted to be the hottest day. We were all told on the Tuesday not to come in the next day.

The reason I know the date is because a friend of mine moved house that day, so I had a quick look on Rightmove for the date. Putting said date into Google then confirmed what I said about the temperature.

I remember. I was living in a student flat and it was so hot. Used to spend loads of time in the park.

Yep! Living in London and having a blast. It was so so hot and my house share had a leather sofa which l stuck to

Yes I was living in London at the time and seem to remember them handing out bottles of water to commuters on the tube

Yes I do. I lived in a house share with 2 Aussies and they had the barbecue going in the back garden every evening when I got in from work!

Vividly! I lived above a dry cleaners on Brixton high Road, it was insanely hot in our top floor flat roofed flat and we slept on the fire escape a few nights, pure madness. The bus to work was like a sauna so I bought a bike which oddly enough was cooler than being in the bus or tube. We used to wear black Lycra vests to work (media agency, nobody gave a fart) and soak them in water in the bathroom then put them back on to sit at our desks with the fans on us as well as before travelling home. Huge top floor office in a warehouse in the east end with massive windows that only opened one tiny pane each so we were like boiling frogs all day.

2018 heatwave

I was also in France that summer. I was 2-3 months pregnant but didn’t know it yet and we were camping as we were at Le Mans. My parents had given us their only sleeping bag - a thick nylon one. I had to peel it off my skin in the morning. We were paying €3 a time for a tiny bottle of lukewarm water and we went through a LOT of it. I actually didn’t buy any souvenirs at all as I ended up needing so much money just for water.

I remember!

My classroom was consistently over 100F every afternoon. I didn’t have blinds and the window only opened 2 inches as I was on the 3rd floor. I basically didn’t teach in the afternoon for half a term - just watched films and created lots of storyboards!

I do remember the stories of elderly deaths in nursing homes across France they were in the hundreds.

Yes. I was in the first trimester of my first pregnancy and felt sick all the time. I lived off Ribena ice-lollies as they were the only thing I could keep down!

Remember the April of 2003 sunbathing in a little bikini I. The garden and revising for my finals

Me too! DD was born in September 2003 and I was like a beached whale.