To get really annoyed by people who live in hot countries claiming that the UK is not hot

[CheckingOutTheQuantocks]

I have some relatives who are in Australia and I'm friends with some of them on Facebook. Apart from their finding the whole Boris Johnson/Brexit thing awfully amusing, they're generally nice people, but there's one of them in particular who can't bloody leave it alone if I post anything about the weather. The other day, I posted about how it was supposed to be the hottest day on record, and she was straight onto it with comments about "That's not hot, that's like a winter temperature for us, you Poms are so soft". She thinks 18°C is "freezing", btw

I'm only mildly irritated by this, but I just don't get why people do it. I know it's ridiculously hot over there and all the wildlife is venomous and all that, but what is the actual point of telling people that all the time when they're just trying to have a whinge about being too warm?

Elphaba Christ, who on earth mentioned union involvement? I'm just talking about having a bit of a whinge on my own Facebook page because I don't react well to the heat. Do you never use social media for inane chat, and wouldn't you get slightly irritated if there was always someone there to piss on your chips?

It is 40 degrees at 4 in the morning in Renner Springs in Oz in November. That was Spring. The UK really don't know what hot is!

Joh66 yeah, yeah, and THIS is a knife etc etc

I work outdoors in London and it's been roasting today. But the sun was shining and it's not going to last for weeks. Tomorrow the train companies in London are advising against all but essential travel - it's a joke. It's hot, the trains aren't air conditioned, my bedroom is hot - but it's Summer! These things happen.

Oh and I'm fat, fair and freckly 😂

In Beirut at the moment. It is bloody hot. But we have air con and it makes all the difference. When it is hot in the UK, there is no air con and it can feel unbearable.

I didn't think today was that humid. It was 29deg in the afternoon at its hottest and beautiful weather here I am fine up to the high 20s. I get too hot when we start hitting over 30deg. I find 14oC positively cold and would need a jacket at least at that temperature

My niece lives in a European city where the temperatures are between high twenties to high 30s almost every summer for a couple of months at least. They do not have air conditioning as standard in homes at all (though more people are starting to have this nowadays).

Yes banks and some larger shops can be air conditioned but lots of offices and small shops are not

I think what people in the UK don't realise is that although people in other countries and cities do acclimatise and feel the heat a bit less than people from cooler climates, lots of them still don't like it much.

In past visits in the summer, I would regularly see people sleeping out on their flat roofs on deck chairs/loungers to try to sleep. Fans there really blow hot air as the temperatures are around 35-40deg and don't fall much below the high 20s at night either

Also in the city my niece comes from, the winter are very snowy and temperatures of -10oC or more are common in the winter so it is not like they don't know what cold weather is like.

They don't however spend their lives moaning about it, they just take a break when they can (lots go to houses in the mountains where it is cooler at weekends and in August for a couple of weeks) and get on with it. I do find the hysteria about this summer on MN quit bemusing

Where I am (in SE) we has 3 solid weeks of rain and very cool weather in June. We have had constant temperatures of 20-24 for most of July so far with one day in the 30s until this week when admittedly we have had a couple of very hot days but it is due to be 20-24 again at the weekend and beyond.

For me it has been a quite pleasant July with a few hot days and a cold May/June so nowhere near the 'heatwave' of last year which I admit really was what I would call a heatwave for England anyway.

I was laughed at by a Canadian friend for posting pics of what was a really scary journey in the snow last year. She said it was nothing and laughed at the fact that I said we'd had a horrendous journey - but it WAS, we were skidding all over the over the place and struggling to take corners and the snow was deep for the UK. We ended up totally unable to get out of our road by the next day. (rural). Our cars are not equipped for the snow, that's the difference, and it's the same with house and this heat.

It's just not comparable.. like others have said, different heat types, air con available and being acclimatised.
I lived in the Middle East and could handle 30+ heat, because it was a) dry heat b) there was air con EVERYWHERE- cars/office/schools/drs/hospitals/malls/home. c) Lots of people had pools including us so could jump in that after work d) you get used to the heat. We visited the UK with some Middle Eastern relatives and they hated the heat of London.

UK infrastructure isn't built for this type of weather. I got home hours late today because my train back from London was delayed, due to a speed restriction because the heat was at risk of making the rails buckle.

It's all very well pointing out that UK residents don't know what real hot weather is like, but doing so rather misses the point that these kind of temperatures aren't normal for the UK. So comparing the weather in Sydney to the weather in Edinburgh is a bit like apples and oranges really.

Ugh. I love my Australian relatives but they drive me mad for exactly the same reasons. Brexit, Boris and the weather.

They know perfectly well that 32deg here is nothing like 32 deg over there, but they have to have their little dig.

I keep intending to change the audience for my weather and politics posts, so they can't see them!

I live in HK and Hk is much more bearable than UK at much hotter temperatures because of air con. In fact, I remember that the old PM of Singapore credited air con with Singapore's economic miracle because it was the single largest contributor to greater productivity. It's only hot outside.

I get that it's more bearable abroad because of aircon etc. But it's a couple of days. We're not talking about these temperatures for weeks on end!

And the upside is that it's a beautiful balmy evening and I'm sitting outside with a glass of wine. Sorry, but I really do think that sometimes we make a huge deal of things in the UK.

I can totally see where you're coming from, and it's not a competition, but as someone who does live in a meltingly hot country it does seem a bit unnecessarily whingey! Like someone posting on a new mums group "Oh I only got eight solid hours last night I'm exhausted" and all those who had eight minutes are like... :O

Yes you're warm, yes you're not used to it, but complaining about the heat in the "virtual vicinity" of someone twice as hot and uncomfortable seems like this reaction is inevitable!

I live in southern Germany. It's been 36 degrees today and it's horrible. Everyone is moaning.
There actually isn't much aircon here. The big shops have it but it's not set to fridge cold it's just mildly cooler than outside. I don't know anyone who has it at home.
The worst thing here is the pavements and roads just seem to radiate the heat back at you.
It's very hot and sticky this evening.
The UK does feel bad when hot because of the humidity.
My friend who lives there is from the middle east and she hates it despite being used to scorching temperatures back home.

I work in shit old buildings that don’t even have windows that open properly even if there was a breeze. The old buildings are also so cold in winter with inadequate heating and insulation that you can get frostbite fingers.

My new build house virtually runs itself all year round in a greenhouse effect type of insane crazy heat indoors

UK really don’t have good infrastructure. No where has verandas/shades, the fans in Homebase always sell out in one weekend; there is never enough salt for icy roads in winter and the train tracks are always either frozen or melting. I think often these things add to the general feeling of annoyance of extreme weather and why we are so rubbish at managing it!

No 18 isn’t ‘freezing’ but for me it’s not comfortable. When I commuted into London, the train temperature was set at 21, people complained it was ‘boiling’, it really wasn’t. I actually found it uncomfortable to sit in a constant cool draught for over an hour.

Used to live in London now between Sydney and NZ. People here who have never been to London express compete surprise that London can hit 40c.

It's never hits that temp in NZ however we have 8 or 9 months of temperatures consistently in the 20's and winter days are often around 16-19c. London temperatures are rarely over 24c for long periods of time. 16c here brings out the huge winter coats and woollens whereas my parents in the NE of England are happy with that temp in summer.

The difference is that down here a 20c day can feel like 40 easily because the sun is so damn strong. It's 20 times stronger than the sun in the med due to no ozone layer. You have to be in the shade at the height of summer. Because of this the infrastructure is based on shade and aircon.

The opposite is also true here though. NZ and Sydney are almost in denial it gets cold here (8c overnight) and houses have little insulation and rarely have heating of much description. Having said that there's be plenty of Brits who scoff at us saying it's cold when the temp is 12c!

The thing I love about the UK is we have proper seasons - beautiful Springs and Autumns

I disagree. Where I live in the UK it's mild, breezy and cloudy most of the year- 14 degrees any season. We haven't had snow for years, no frost last winter, and so far this summer a top temperature of 25 a couple of days. Very little seasonal variation!

I sat in bed,wearing a hoodie(specially purchased on arrival from the north of the UK) to keep warm, in Melbourne in July,Googling :Why don't Australians heat their houses?!I found a thread of wailing complaints from equally frozen Brits. It was 13 degrees outside the bathroom,before I took my morning shower ! I didn't want to take my nightshirt off! My friend's daughter cooked dinner wearing her puffer coat and I totally understood.
We are adjusted to different things.(Or my friends are just dead mean about paying for heating or are saving the planet.)

I live in a hot country, though in a milder part, and 35º is too hot for me.

ImpracticalCape I have to admit, I do turn the "wimpy Poms" thing back on her when she's moaning about it being cold at 12°C. I wouldn't call anything above 5°C particularly cold, but then that's what I'm used to in winter and it feels normal to me.

Agree I live in the SE inland (no breeze from the sea) it never snows here much at all. It’s usually warm even winter is not ridiculously cold and often colder indoors (inside those old buildings 😂) I don’t even think it rains here as much as other UK areas does it?

I can totally see where you're coming from, and it's not a competition, but as someone who does live in a meltingly hot country it does seem a bit unnecessarily whingey! Like someone posting on a new mums group "Oh I only got eight solid hours last night I'm exhausted" and all those who had eight minutes are like... :O

Yes you're warm, yes you're not used to it, but complaining about the heat in the "virtual vicinity" of someone twice as hot and uncomfortable seems like this reaction is inevitable!

This, exactly, all of this.

OP there was a BBC News article a day or two ago about unions lobbying for it to be compulsory to stop work at 30 degrees or something utterly ludicrous. I tried to find it now, but since it nearly made me throw my phone across the room the first time, it’s probably just as well I couldn’t find it.

And all of you saying ‘well, everywhere’s airconditioned in hot countries’. It’s not. I assure you it’s not. Neither of my schools had aircon (1980s-90s), my friend is a teacher whose school is not airconditioned, someone upthread has a teacher friend in Queensland whose school is not airconditioned. Home central heating in the UK is far more a given than home air con is in Australia. Australian cars don’t crank up aircon any faster than British cars. It’s only just reached full blast by the end of a 20 minute journey so you’re beetroot red and wet through with sweat regardless.

I also don’t buy ‘32 degrees in the UK is so much worse than 32 degrees in Australia’. No. We have humidity there too. We just have to get on with it, because if we moaned about it, we wouldn’t stop for several months.

Ialso don’t buy ‘32 degrees in the UK is so much worse than 32 degrees in Australia

Yes I don't buy this either. It is much more humid in many places apart from the UK. Also I dislike this assumption that just because it's over 25 degrees normal rules don't apply - men walk around topless, things don't work "because of the heat" etc.

Lockheart
It has been pretty shit recently with young children, with sports days and outdoor sports events cancelled due to the rain - and school run in the pouring rain.

The advice to relocate could be said to anyone moaning about the weather! This is just a nice summer, we need a bit of sun.

When you read all the winter threads about posters struggling to get warm, spending a fortune on heating, houses being damp... let's enjoy the heat for the 2 days it will last, shall we.