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 am sitting in a shed with an autistic person who won’t move to anywhere cooler. She has very reactive diabetes. Why her Mum has sent her to our care farm today, and why for another matter, we are still open is beyond me. I feel awful.

I can’t stand the heat either. It’s been awful.

Plus we lost a family member in that awful
humid week in June. The heat was very likely to have been a factor in their death. Utterly awful.

We have only had rain twice since. Once that night when it tipped it down and once for about 10 minutes.

We need consistent gentle rain at night for weeks now so everything can recover.

You think that's necessary?

I

What do you want? For her and her family to sit in dark rooms behind the sofa shaking and crying about climate change?

London, it actually feels hotter in the house today than it did yesterday.

DH is on an oxygen machine 24 hours a day which pumps out heat. We have an air con thingy that's deafening, gives you a headache. The heat makes my arthritis worse.......

Tesco's are sending me adverts for Christmas tins of Celebrations!

Happy days!

Is this where we all move to Scotland?

I honestly can't wait. We were in NI weekend just gone and it was a glorious 16 degrees and it rained solidly for a whole morning and I was just delighted! All the grass there is still green 💚

In London.

On my bed feeling headachy, lethargic, inflamed and nauseous. Curtains closed. Had an ice lolly it's made no difference at all. About to get a wet towel.

I went to a medical appointment in the morning and already the heat has finished me.

Is this supposed to be cooler weather? Because the sunshine isn't yellow, it's white hot.

I wish I could.

We might get some warm days in September but over 30 degrees for a few days like we've just had is surely unlikely? High 20s we can cope with just about.

Stop saying it's DEFINITELY OVER. Like for the whole year!!! FGS, you cannot possibly know that! Also, 'it's not going to be over 26C for 2 weeks' is not an indicator it's over. It's still going to be HOT, and HUMID... And also, it's only mid August, there is a very real possibility that we could have another bad heatwave/temperatures over 30C for days on end, and even another one after that. You can't possibly know it's DEFINITELY OVER! Can you see into the future??? It could be another month - or even a month and a half before it's DEFINITELY OVER.

Also, there is no WAY of anyone accurately predicting the weather 2 weeks in advance. It's guesswork. Even the met office can't predict it correctly 100%. Case in point, they have predicted the temperature wrong multiple times this year. It's been 4 to 6 degrees C above what they predicted the week before loads of times! According to them today was meant to be 21C where I live. It's 27C!

,

I think I'm becoming a bit acclimatized to the heat but here in the east it is so dry.
The wheat was beautiful and golden and straight and it was cut before the end of July but I believe yields were low. Fields of potatoes don't want to be over-wet but I doubt if these weeks of drought have given them as much moisture as they'd like. I don't expect sugar beet will do well unless we get some rain soon. I think food crops matter. Maybe I'm silly.

I agree. We are in Surrey and it's worse today. I think it may be because it was so warm overnight, the house didn't cool down.

Sorry to hear you and your DH are unwell.

I did wonder when the mince pies would appear.😀

How else would you know that they're the same people?

Oh please, let's get Halloween over before they start on Christmas.

Looking forward to next week.

It's still hot where I am (South Coast) til around Wednesday. I absolutely love the summer but temperatures in high 20s and 30s are difficult to manage when you're just doing normal life things in homes and venues without air con.

I much prefer low 20s which means nights are comfortable and my hair doesn't go frizzy the minute I step out the door. To not feel sweaty every minute of the day will be joyous.

Also I don't know if anyone else has found this but everywhere outside is just so sticky!! It's grim 😫 Cars are sticky and dusty, pavements are grey and sticky and our garden patio and shingle path is a weird dark colour from all of the tree sap and goodness knows what else. And of course, hose pipe ban means we just have to let things go!

Bring on that rain!

I’ve been saying we need to act for about 20 years and some people have been saying it for a lot longer than that. You can’t get people to change their behaviours though- they’re either stupid or selfish or both. I still do what I can in my own daily life to minimise my carbon output and plastic waste. But I’m afraid I have no faith that all humans or even the majority can get on board with being accountable for their use of resources because they WANT what they WANT and sod everyone and everything else. I despair.

(Hugely perimenopausal too and just full of rage today).

It feels hotter today, humidity is higher, it's 31c and not even late afternoon yet. OP was a bit premature with this thread

Come to Scotland where it’s permanently cold and often wet. Sounds like you’d love it 😬

If you look at climate prediction maps, the South East of UK is going to be horrendous for heat, wildfires and water shortages over the next decade, and accelerating towards pretty grim in 50 years time....I would not live there.
Then you look at rising sea levels - yesterdays news hidden was places like the Thames sea levels are rising 50% faster than predicted. We have dozens of places, thousands of homes and business that over the next 50 years are going to be uninhabitable. Last month there was a Guardian article about the first UK village seeing abandoned houses due to rising sea levels.
This is echoed in flood zones as well - many streets, villages, towns will have uninhabitable roads due to more floods more regularly.
Some folks houses are about to be pretty worthless. I have family members in this position due to floods and rising sea levels.

If you look at climate prediction maps the north and north east of England (Yorkshire and Cumbria upwards) through Northumbria, Borders, Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire etc have 'won' the climate lottery IMO.

So yes, if I lived in SE at the moment, I would be considering a move.

Hate to say it but as the day has gone on the weather predictions (in my area) have gotten drier and the temps are getting back up to 25+

Obvi not the 36c hell scape we have had this week but we are not out of the woods yet.

Average temps for the UK in August are around 22 I think we have had one under 22 day so far this month 😓

It's been relentlessly hot here (SE Wales) since early June.

I said to my husband yesterday, "When we're in November and it's 10C and raining and grey, please remind me that back in July we agreed we must get a proper AC unit installed for our lounge. No back-pedaling."

Funnily enough where I live they've put in a rain prediction for Tues/Wed that wasn't there before.

Will believe it when I see it.

I'm completely with you. Strangely, I haven't actually felt hot much this year, but I'm sure I have some kind of upside down seasonal depression.

The sun is too bright and I hate the feeling of air on bare arms and legs and even light breezy fabrics make me feel weird... the amount of excitement I have for wearing jumpers is insane.

I have made some nice summer memories with the kids but I never feel quite 'right' and at ease in summer. I just can't wait to feel cosy and comfortable again.