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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are you actually going out in this heat?

262 replies

OhImVisiblyOver25 · 11/08/2022 16:26

I feel so bad for keeping my kids in (we have air con) but I just can not bare this heat and my kids are so fair I don’t like them being out in the sun for too long. Aibu for staying in this week? It’s supposed to be back to a normal temp next week and we are going away so they will have plenty to do.

OP posts:
SheeplessAndCounting · 11/08/2022 23:53

There is also no network nationally to move water around the country. Utterly insane. In 1976 the newly appointed "Minister for Droughts" promised a linked up national network. Just before the rain came. Then they couldn't be bothered to do it. So here we are. Nothing to do with people watering gardens. All to do witj incompetent governments.

See also North Sea Oil, decomissioning of the little gas storage facilities we had a few years ago, lack of a national grid with capacity to even accept the energy generated by private solar panels on houses or store that generated from wind farms etc.

No plan for UK energy or food security.

Same reason we have not enough GPs or schools.

None of this has been caused by the weather.

SheeplessAndCounting · 11/08/2022 23:55

There is a very obvious pattern behind all of these problems. 🤔

Louise0701 · 11/08/2022 23:58

@SheeplessAndCounting yes, I was just thinking the same! What’s the common denominator here!

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 00:01

Louise0701 · 11/08/2022 23:58

@SheeplessAndCounting yes, I was just thinking the same! What’s the common denominator here!

Tough one to figure out, isn't it? 😆🤯

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 12/08/2022 00:01

I've been at work with cold air con and fans.

CanadianJohn · 12/08/2022 00:03

We have central air conditioning. My wife is on a one-woman campaign to transfer our life savings to the electricity company.

In the house, I wear a hat, and to read or watch TV you need a blanket.

I frequently go outside to get warm. I can't wait for winter.

DustinsHat · 12/08/2022 00:05

My children are very fair, the difference in the skin care required between them and their cousins who are only slightly darker is amazing. Mine can easily burn on a cloudy day in May. I definitely don't take mine out until after 4pm on days like today, even then it's way too hot for me but I make myself go out in it because they need the fresh air.

ManateeFair · 12/08/2022 00:07

It’s 30C where I am. It’s more than 10 degrees less hot than it was the other week. Yes, this is very hot, but it’s not freakishly hot. This is a temperature we’ve experienced in the UK before and which people experience on holiday overseas all the time. I’m not a big fan of excessive heat; I sweat like mad and I’m very pale so I burn quickly and I also have a sun-aggravated skin condition. But I’ve still being doing normal stuff because it’s only weather and I don’t really feel like it’s enough to make my normal life grind to a halt. I’ve been going for a run every other day like normal, been to the office for work, walked to town to do some shopping, got my nails done, went for a meal on Sunday, sat out in the garden in the shade, that kind of thing. But just do whatever suits you; we’re all different.

Louise0701 · 12/08/2022 00:08

@CanadianJohn sorry, but this made me laugh so much.

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 00:10

DustinsHat · 12/08/2022 00:05

My children are very fair, the difference in the skin care required between them and their cousins who are only slightly darker is amazing. Mine can easily burn on a cloudy day in May. I definitely don't take mine out until after 4pm on days like today, even then it's way too hot for me but I make myself go out in it because they need the fresh air.

You are going out in the hottest part of the day when your surroundings have absorbed all of the heat, the sun is still fairly strong, the air is hotter and more humid etc. Why 4pm? Either go out early or mid-morning before it gets very hot, or at 6-8pm when it starts to cool down. I don't understand why you would choose 4pm in the circumstances you have described.

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 00:10

CanadianJohn · 12/08/2022 00:03

We have central air conditioning. My wife is on a one-woman campaign to transfer our life savings to the electricity company.

In the house, I wear a hat, and to read or watch TV you need a blanket.

I frequently go outside to get warm. I can't wait for winter.

Grounds for divorce, I'd say. 🤣

TheOrigRights · 12/08/2022 00:13

Yes, I'm going out. I've had to modify my usual running times (went out at 9.30pm today), and boot camp sessions are early evening and in the shade so they're OK.
I've been for a few walks as normal. I'm fit and healthy and drinking loads so it's all fine. I'm working in my garden office in the day anyway. That stays cool enough until about 3pm when I turn the fan on, which doesn't cool it down as such, but blows air on me!
It's been hard to boot 13yo DS out to the park as there's little shade there.

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 00:15

Fordian · 11/08/2022 23:50

I open my curtains, and the sky is blue. The sun is shining.

Yes, I go. Yes. Reminds me of Queensland.

Sure, I have to adapt to such heat; shut the house down, blinds and curtains as the sun moves around, stay out of it from 10-4.

I love it (while recognising my 3 day week is worked in sometimes ferocious air con...), but the joy of clear, blue sky, and warmth on my skin. Joy.

However, I also 'get' that this weather is due to terrifying change.

We are in so much trouble.

The blue skies and the sunlight - so that for once everything doesn't look grey - is food for the soul. ☀️☀️

Silverswirl · 12/08/2022 00:15

Greensleeves · 11/08/2022 16:29

I'm certainly not going out in this heat, I'd be burned to a crisp within minutes. I'm working outside in my garden because the breeze is marginally more tolerable than stagnating in the house, but I'm under a massive parasol, and regularly supplied with cold Cokes and jubblies to keep the heat at bay Grin

I think if you do go out, especially with children, then you have to be militantly organised. Sun hats, strong sun block, frozen bottles of water, money for ice lollies, plans to spend some periods in the shade. I think people who just take their kids to the beach all day in this heat are a bit bonkers.

Not really.
we are in the hottest part of the country and have been out every day this week. Outdoor lido, beach and park.
Kids are so tanned / olive that they never ever burn so just need factor 30, lots of water and off we go!

outdooryone · 12/08/2022 00:15

I've been cycling to work as normal. Mornings are just lovely rolling down into town.
The ride back over the 200m high hill, a little more tiring!
We will all be dropping into autumn shortly - and complaining of the cold and wet... I'm set on enjoying every last minute of it.

onlythreenow · 12/08/2022 00:32

I open my curtains, and the sky is blue. The sun is shining.

Here also - except it's winter and the air is icy cold! While the mountains covered in snow look stunning I am longing for some of the heat others are complaining about on here, and I would even take the dry conditions as we've had more rain than normal (drought is nothing new here).

SarahAndQuack · 12/08/2022 00:35

SheeplessAndCounting · 11/08/2022 23:39

You do realise that, in those same countries where Brits go on holiday, 1) a lot of people who live there don't go out in the middle of the day and 2) people mock Brits for doing so. 'Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun'.

So you didn'r read my post then about people starting work early in the morning and finishing at lunchtime before the hottest part of the day? Like they do with schools and outdoor jobs in most of Europe in summer? Why are you trying to argue with me when your point appears to be the point I just made myself?

My employer was stunned my daughter's school was closing early to let children go home when it was up at 40 degrees. He made your argument - what about places where it's warmer?! How silly, they cope fine there. I asked friends living in France and Spain (so, not exactly the hottest places in the world ever, just a bit hotter than the UK), and they said, duh, we cope by not having children in schools when it's 40 degrees, we're not idiots.

Yes. Because they start at 7am and finish at 1-2pm. Per my previous comment.

It would be incredibly stupid to finish a physical job in the early afternoon, if the temperature were high. Temperatures peak then. You need to work early mornings and then an evening shift. You know, like ... having a break in the middle of the day, like ... ooh, like what a lot of people in hotter countries do.

As I said, you adjust working hours to start early and finish early before the hottest part of the day. To AVOID working in the hottest temperatures.

I think you must have either misunderstood my posts of responded to the wrong person.

No, I didn't read your post about finishing at lunchtime. I read your post about finishing in the early afternoon - ie., the hottest part of the day. But I'm glad you realised that needed correcting!

Thanks again for correcting your second point too. You're right, people in hotter countries definitely don't even try to work into the early afternoon!

And yes, absolutely, the important thing is avoiding the hottest part of the day, the early afternoon.

Glad we're now on the same page. Smile

Wombat100 · 12/08/2022 00:44

I might be in the minority but I’m loving the heat ☀️

MelissaC83 · 12/08/2022 00:55

Don’t worry too much about it. You do what you think is best for you and the kids.
I avoid the hot weather too. Not so much because of my kids…the youngest 3 don’t get affected or even notice the increase in temperature like I do.
I put it down to me having blonde hair and pale skin (that burns through factor 50 and NEVER tans 😬) plus I suffer from excruciating migraines and bright sunlight triggers them badly. However, my younger ones are mixed white/Caribbean so they don’t mind. They are happy in the garden playing and being in the paddling pool while I’m looking out at them in front of a fan and wearing my sunglasses indoors 😜
When we had that ridiculous high temperature of like 40 degrees on the kids last day of term in July, I’d stayed indoors, curtains closed, fans on and only set foot out the door for the afternoon school pick up. It’s a 10 min walk to the school..I left home and had only been walking in the heat for 5 mins max and SUDDENLY SICK! All the symptoms of sunstroke! It was so severe I couldn’t do anything. My mum had to come over to help me. I’m staying home this weekend 😉

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 01:25

No, I didn't read your post about finishing at lunchtime. I read your post about finishing in the early afternoon

Lunchtime is in the early afternoon.

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 01:27

Thanks again for correcting your second point too. You're right, people in hotter countries definitely don't even try to work into the early afternoon!

This was not a correction. I was reiterating what I said in the first place. That e.g. schools in France and Germany adjust their hours in summer to be 7am to 1pm - so finishing at lunchtime, in the early afternoon - to avoid pupils being in school in the hottest parts of the day.

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 01:28

Glad we're now on the same page.

Not sure what page you've been on but glad you've caught up.

MaisyMoo2022 · 12/08/2022 02:05

No, I don’t get on with the heat so I’m staying indoors. It never bothered me when I was younger but I struggle with it now. I don’t know if it’s an age thing or I’ve got used to working in an air conditioned environment over the years.

GlamGiraffe · 12/08/2022 02:16

Yes, we go out, we do normal things. We stay inside for a couple of hours around midday but otherwise do ordinary things. Today my five year old and I went for a really long walk I. The tropical heat!!! It's just a warmer than average UK summer. What do you think people in hot countries without air conditioning do? I've spent a lot of time in my parents home in Spain where we have no air conditioning. Few people in that. Area do. It reaches 40 degrees typically (but snows in winter). We just get on with it, everyone does we grew up with it, my children have been exposed to it since they were babies. I would take this over days if cold, dark rain and wind any day!

CanadianJohn · 12/08/2022 03:38

SheeplessAndCounting · 12/08/2022 00:10

Grounds for divorce, I'd say. 🤣

Show quote history

But then, who would look after me? I need someone young, say mid-to-late 70's. Maybe a retired nurse who likes cooking and cleaning.

I don't think I'd find many candidates on OLD, so I'd better stick with the current model. And buy a new blanket.