It’s over tomorrow, the heat is over for another year

[LaurieFairyCake]

Firstly I appreciate this is not the same for the rest of the country

but we’ve had it horrific here (London). I’ve never felt so shit in my life as I have for the last 10 weeks. I’ve spent between £250-350 a month on electricity (portable air conditioners). I’ve felt anxious, headachy, it’s FUCKED with my peri menopause (brain fog, no words, cognitive decline). I’ve felt tearful and as if it would go on forever. There are moments where I’ve thought I can’t take another moment of this. My sleep is proper fucked.

this has to change. I’ve done everything on a personsl
level I can. Air conditioners only when necessary, above 26 inside (DH has long Covid so literally throws up in heat). His asthma is exacerbated. The dogs have had the shittest summer. I’ve had a couple of rescues that can’t go out about 22 degrees. I reckon they’ve been walked briefly 3 times a week. We deliberately went away on a cheap caravan holiday twice just so they could smile. There were endless days I couldn’t work as too hot in my home office and clients cancelled.

I cannot wait til Saturday.

I hope for solidarity from others. I want to wear a fucking hoodie again. I’ve spent every day sat around in my underwear inside for vast stretches of the day. This is not sexy.

I thought this was going to be a thread lamenting the end of summer.

I’ve loved it so much. While all the plants look like they’ve been nuked, I feel great.

I sleep better when it’s really hot, with just a sheet and warm air all around.

Although the heat is getting on my tits now I'm kind of trying to make the most of it because come February we'll probably have weeks and weeks of rain...I think it rained all most of the Winter thinking about it...

The forecast here (Sussex) is for a drop in temperature on Sunday, then low 20's next week.

Still no bloody rain on the cards though. When we finally get some, I think I might dance naked in the garden just for the joy of it.

It did seem to, although we did need the water, and certainly do now.

No we won’t! We are in a drought! Bring on ALL the rain!

Cotton maxi skirts are your friend!...

Hated every single day of this hot weather , it’s just so awful. I wish climate change meant more rain ( not floods obviously) but just enough to cool things down a lot and stop droughts and fires , but it is only going to get hotter each year and we can’t cope with it in this country.

I suppose at least all the "It'll rain the minute the kids finish school" people have been proven wrong. If it was going to be ridiculously tropical at least it has done it when a lot of people are on UK holidays.

Oh don't be so ridiculous, surely to god you realise what the climate crisis is by now?

I am fantasizing about wearing knee length boots / tights and a big coat

I've loved and hated it ! I wfh 4 days a week so adjusted my hours where I could working at coolest points of day and employer was easy about it. I've loved sitting in the garden for the really hot parts of the day and soaking it in where it was possible. Dogs were miserable yes but we've had a proper summer for the first time in forever . I'd like it too have beeen cooler and under 30 but feel I can't complain ! I'd like 4 days of solid rain now to get back to green and less dust but I can't say I've hated it ! We made do with fans and ice packs only and your body does adjust. The worst part was seeing sweaty when u are nicely dressed

@bluewanda
Were you saying the same thing to the posters who were enjoying the weather last winter?

Climate change is not just having hot weather in summer. It is also the prolonged rain, storms and floods we had last winter. It is the extreme cold and snowfalls some countries experience more and more.

I do not deny climate change and I am aware how bad it is for the planet.

However, it pisses me off that when anybody mentions they enjoy the hot weather, they are attacked with “you are selfish”, “the planet is dying”, “who gives a shit about climate change”.

Yet, whenever anybody complains about never ending shit weather in winter they are silenced with “ it’s just rain”, “man up”, “there is no bad weather, only badly dressed people”, “ you cannot control the weather so learn to enjoy the rain”. Even though abnormally wet weather is as bad for the planet as the droughts and the heat.

I doubt that people who have lost their livelihoods in floods, took any comfort from the fact that at least it wasn’t due to a heatwave.

I love proper summers and hate wet, miserable winters, but just like the rain lovers I cannot control the weather.

Why is it ok to enjoy abnormal wet conditions but selfish to enjoy the heat?

That is a really alarming thought.

I feel very fortunate to live near the top of a hill, and only one road away from open countryside. There's almost always a bit of a breeze here, but there have been spells where it's been dead still. In the town centre, where it's all narrow streets and 3-4 storey buildings, it must be intolerable.

I also feel very sorry for the builders who are doing a loft conversion on a house along the road. They've been working on the roof for a couple of days, they must be bloody boiling.

It rained here in Pembrokeshire from November to April and I expect it will again this year.

Don't you believe it. There's still plenty of time for more heatwaves and an "Indian Summer" .

Have you considered moving out of London op, if it is feasible of course for you to do so?

I moved out of a major city to the country a few years ago and can now tolerate the summers so much better. Grass and trees absorb the heat so much better than pavements and crowds of people. I am a confirmed country bumpkin though. But I feel physically healthier and mentally calmer living in the country too.

You have a point....

Yes, there’s often a mini heat wave in September.

If OP does she will have to go north rather than west. Wiltshire/Somerset have been unbearable.

It does look like the general trend is going to be towards more summers like this rather than fewer. The changes experienced by our children and grandchildren will be even more significant in the coming decades. So like it or not, we do have to accept that and adapt where we can.

Yep. Kids will be going back to school in shorts here!

I agree @WaitingandWaiting4. But there seems an unwillingness to acknowledge that 'I am part of the problem'. Every time we fly, we contribute to it, every time we use AI, every time we buy meat (and the tide seems to have turned against plant-based eating, there's a 'eat a vast amount of animal protein' trend) or use a petrol or diesel car. No-one wants to give up those privileges really. At this rate, and continuing to live in this way, we would seem to be utterly f*ed.

It certainly confirms to me I couldn’t live in a relentlessly hot country. I’ve tried hard not to complain about the weather because I complain a lot about our long, long winters but this heat has been a real struggle. My house is hotter than outdoors so feels airless (though I’ve finally bought an air cooling unit, at least I’ll have it for next year if I’ve left it too late for this). I’ve had constant headaches and clothes have been uncomfortably stuck to me. My favourite temperature is around 19 degrees, I could have that all year.

I enjoy hot weather,I love the sun. We've had no rain which is the issue and we have idiots having bonfires and bbqs which set fire to neighbouring properties and cause widespread devastation.

The fire in the New Forest was caused by a van that caught fire, it spread so rapidly due to it being so dry, it has had a devastating impact to the flora and fauna in the area. Had it been a normal summer it wouldn't have spread so quickly.

The train that derailed, no doubt the rail buckled in the heat because our network is not built for this sort of heat.

The wildfires and hot weather around the UK are having a devastating impact so when people act so ignorant and say how wonderful it is it makes you wonder if they are really that dense or on a wind up?

Oh and when people go on about loving all the rain I say the same to them. Too much rain has a devastating impact too just in a different way.

I am worried about my plants and wildlife and have been leaving water out and trying to keep plants watered. My six year old is sick of being indoors instead of outside playing. I am worried about my elderly neighbours and older people dying in the heat. Why on gods Green earth are people lighting fires outside and causing wildfires. We will be buying more fans and an air conditioner when they are back in stock. I am in the SE but don’t want to uproot my life so we will be just adapting to it. I predict that people will start to holiday on cooler countries during the summer to escape the heat.