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?

Yes. Whenever it's hot I think back to it. I lived in a 3rd floor flat and it was hot as well in there. No way to get any air in. I also worked in a prefab office on an industrial estate which was like an oven.

Yes, I think it was 38.something at Heathrow a day in August (was a hot summer anyway). I was in Reading that day and had to get the bus home as the rails weren’t in a fit state for the train. I believe it was the hottest day ever recorded in the UK at that time (surpassed a couple of years ago)

we were in France in a static caravan in Brittany. I remember just going for a drive with the kids just so we could use the aircon.

Yes was pregnant and gave birth on one of the hottest days! In the run up I used to go and hang out in the chilled aisle at Sainsbury’s for ages.

I was working at Citigroup on Canary Wharf and we all delayed leaving work because the underground was so unbearable.

I had no outdoor space either so spent some time soaking in a freezing cold bath to get respite before bed, it was just so so hot.

No! I was in Ireland for those two weeks and there was no heatwave there. I remember having to buy a Mac In A Sack! I'm not sure if I felt cheated or relieved when I got home.

Yes we were in italy and it was the hottest I think we’ve ever been. Supposed to be visiting different cities and we just wanted to stay in the hotel pool. And when we got home we realised we’d accidentally switched the fridge/freezer off before we left….

Yes! I was working in a small one storey building with no insulation under the roof, no loft space, so it was like an oven. And for quite some time the manager refused to have windows open, because her dad had told her way back that the heat would rise up the bricks into the window, or something.

But desperate for at least some movement of air, eventually I told her that if she still refused, I was going home, and I meant it. There were only 4 of us anyway.

I used to take in a spray bottle, the kind they sell for plants, so on and off all day we’d spray each other - it did help.

I still remember the afternoon when I collapsed on the sofa after work - windows open- and finally saw the first fat raindrops - prelude to a real deluge - falling. Bliss!

Absolutely gave birth at the end of August spent 3 months sleeping on the leather sofa with the patio doors open, cold baths that used to warm up, having wet hair as much as possible. Had chronic SPD too.

Used to hang the washing out last thing at night and bringing it in 6am and not venturing outside during the day unless I had to.

Oh yes - the ladybird swarms! I'd clean forgotten about those.

Yep, remember it well, gave birth to my first at the beginning of September. So hot and uncomfortable for what felt like months beforehand. Remember sitting at my desk at work with two fans directly on me.

It was a non-event compared to the summer of ‘76. We were supposed to have a brick in the loo cistern to save water and have no more than six inches of depth in a bath.
My mum even went as far as buying salt tablets for us to take to prevent dehydration!
We all got sunstroke after going to the beach for a day and because there were muddy patches in the beach they dried on my feet and made the skin crack. (Wells-next-the-Sea if you’re asking). I’m not sure, but think this was also the same year my dad and brother made the news as they got stranded going to find cockles on the other side of the water!

I remember- I worked in a garden centre greenhouse at the time and they had to shut it for a few days.