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.

Awful isn't it. We are trashing the most beautiful planet we know to exist.

Not just with the climate change but also with the millions of tonnes of plastic crap we've created and thrown on it, the billions of gallons of petrochemicals, household chemicals and toxic waste we've poured onto it and the endless air pollutants we've released into it.

It's criminal what we've done to this planet.

If there is alien life out there, they should get rid of us as quickly as possible.

This!! It’s been hot yes but it’s been amazing to get so much use out of the great outdoors. We’ve done loads of free activities as opposed to cinema trips, glow golf and other expensive stuff when it’s been raining for days on end. Everyone will moan again when it’s miserable and wet.

I am in London but LOVE the heat! It has been great. I have had only fans though as my Landlord is tightfisted and has my smaller window sealed shut. I love the sun. Makes my skin glow and everybody is just so much happier! Also nice for me to save money before the exorbitant winter heating bills start.

I just find the whole thing deeply depressing on so many levels.

Personally because I can not tolerate this kind of heat at all, I have felt unwell since May and the intense brightness of every day does something very strange to me (maybe I'm a vampire lol). I absolutely despise it and feel so much calmer come the evenings when this intensity abates. Right now I would be more than happy living in a cave.

I also feel so depressed thinking about all the people and animals suffering this summer, worldwide and they will continue to suffer because this is going nowhere. And I am concerned about the inevitable floods that will follow this,that will be the next disaster on the horizon.

And the future is so depressing and there is no way to put this right, how can it when everyone is flying everywhere all the time (I have many friends who have 4-5 holidays abroad every year), using their cars just to pop round the corner, air-conditioning blasting in every room in every single hot country. How are electric cars going to help when the expense of them are out of many people's budget, not just here but worldwide and most of the parts are made in countries that don't give a crap about their part in global warming so are they even environmentally friendly in the long run?

Pandora's box has been opened and I can't see that there is anything we can do. Anything we do to help in the UK isn't even the tinniest drop in the ocean.

I live in hope things will change, that's all we can do, hope.

Had a great summer and lovely days out in London. DC have enjoyed London in the sun

Totally and utterly agree OP

I am in Essex and am -ing SICK OF IT. It's been a nightmare. Just wave after wave of boiling heat. You get through one, have a week of normal temperature, and then the f-ing forecaster says another heatwave is on its way. You caan almosst feel it building over again. This has been going on since May. I am sick of the flies, sick of not sleeping, sick of my boxroom/office feeling like a burning little oven. I'm sick of seeing the poor dog panting. And I'm sick of not being able to think clearly or do any work.

To make it worse, this town is unbearably crowded. Houses are being jammed onto every scrap of land, and they've even hacked down my local woods to build two new housing estates. The traffic is horrific as well. We have lots of narrow country lanes with the traffic of the M25 going through them. Add in boiling heat and it's enough to push you to breaking point.

South Wales here. The heat is awful, but personally I'm coping ok-ish although the house is horribly warm and my sleep is crappy. I am however absolutely desperate for this to be over as we have so many wildfires (not necessarily natural ones 😡) burning and the devastation to our countryside, wildlife and people's homes and livelihoods is just horrendous. And even fires aside, everything is yellow and crispy and the birds all look bedraggled and fed up, had enough now. I literally cannot wait to cook a roast and watch a film on a rainy Sunday without the sun reflecting off the screen!

We as a species won't change voluntarily. There's loads of dystopian fiction about dictators taking over and mandating population uniforms, food rations, taking away private vehicles and so on, but we'd have a massive war and wipe each other out before we lived under that kind of control.

I live in London too I’ve loved it. Ok I’m part Italian and used to the heat. Apart from all the dead things, it’s the best summer I remember.

The feeling of walking around when your whole body feels supported by the warmth - there’s nothing like it.

I am in the North West. The forecast for next week includes lots of rain and temperatures from 19 to 21 degrees. That will do me if it is correct. I am fed up with watering my plants in the evening every day. (I have two water butts which filled up in the storm a few weeks ago, and supplement water from them with household grey water so not using precious mains water). My garden is also quite small. I loathe sun cream so stay out of the sun as much as possible and cover up with light clothes when I have to go out. So I am coping. I appreciate that it is much worse in the South of the UK. I think our hottest day was yesterday at 35 degrees.
The thought of this every summer is depressing though.

Absolutely agree! A prolonged period of steady (note steady) rain & showers is desperately needed - I despair for anyone who doesn't understand and be grateful for that.

I hope not. I love the heat

You can take positive steps to adapt where possible, making changes to your home, lifestyle etc that make it easier for you to cope. But I can’t see there is any realistic prospect of halting (or even reversing!) climate change globally.

Yes and It doesn't help the cause when you have countries such as China that still use coal for power and is the biggest contributer of greenhouse gasses on the planet...

I need to do some work right now. I have something that I want to get off before the weekend and I can't f-ing concentrate because it's so f-ing HOT. The heat is beating against the wall outside. I could scream. We had a heatwave in May, and I just knew it was going to keep returning, but it's been even worse than I feared.

I can't wait for the first day I can wear a scarf and see my breath. Heaven.

I remember '76 well. I don't think it was anywhere near as hot as this, at least not consistently so.

I was living in a flat above a shop and we had an area of flat roof that we went out and sunbathed on. Even in the middle of Croydon, it wasn't too hot to do that. There were plenty of days when it wasn't too hot to go out for walks, and even if your car was parked in the sun, after a few minutes with the doors open to let out the hot air it was cool enough to get into.

It was bloody dry though. We went on holiday to Cumbria at the start of August and walked about 3 miles to go and look at a lovely waterfall. When we got there, it was just a trickle! The river near our holiday cottage was reduced to a small stream and you could walk along the river bed to the village.

When the heatwave finally ended, we had the most fantastic thunderstorm. And when the first rain drops hit the pavement, each one made a damp circle about 3" in diameter.

im from a hot country so i dont mind it - the kids have perma tans ha ha - i do feel for the farmers tho, and the raging fires are awful, Cali has this every year and the south of france has been battered this year too.

Ds loves a walk in the sun.

Ahh my dream weather! Trust me, have had a few holidays in Aberdeenshire, the weather up there was perfect!

Yes but they are far ahead when it comes to green energy development - they are going to be carbon neutral by 2060.

They have also planted 70'odd billion trees since the 1980's and have gone from 10% tree coverage to 25% - that's double the tree coverage of the UK.

So they are working hard - harder than us. Much harder.

This is very true.

The buildings seem to act like storage radiators imo, they heat up and as soon as the air temperature drops a bit, the heat from the buildings warms it up again.

Last night i went to bed and it was 24 degrees. When i got up this morning and it was 13, it has risen to 16 and i am sat here with socks on because it is a wee bit chilly. But i would rather that than suffer the way everyone is in the south, i hope it cools down for you soon❄

haha I remember when 26 degrees was considered a scorcher. Now its considered relief!

We havent had a lot of rain in my part of the northhwest here either
Msybe a couple of short showers
Its been very warm for weeks.

So you need a decent fan, a hot water bottle full of frozen water, some spray for your face - (I use Elf) some mint roll on to make your skin go cold (I use Dynamint), cold water from the fridge and some lollies made from fruit juice.
You can also put tea towels in the freezer and wrap then round your neck to cool down.