To be terrified of the coming summer?

[screamingbanshees]

Last year there were 24,000+ heat-related deaths due to the heatwave, and the temperatures here were astronomical. It was the worst summer I've ever experienced, sweating constantly, sticking to every surface, always dehydrated, warm water coming out the cold tap, and sweating as soon as I stepped out of the bath. I also had a very unhappy, sweaty, screamy 1.5 year old!

AIBU to be absolutely dreading this year? Apparently the Met Office has claimed 2023 will have an even hotter summer. I don't know if I can bear it again. DP and I are thinking of booking a holiday just to be somewhere liveable. This is also the first winter I've actually enjoyed because of the relief from the heat.

Yes my mum once got it on an Atlantic beach here and it was no more than 25 degrees

Sorry, @Eyerollcentral , but there was minimal investment in infrastructure before privatisation. My dh was for a while involved in the water sector and this is most certainly the case.

Apparently 2022 was a very hot summer in Scotland!

I weigh 7.5 stone and am very bony, so weight is definitely not the problem in terms of trapping the heat. However I do suffer from a chronic illness which is highly exacerbated by the heat due to rapid dehydration (despite me drinking all the water I could) and other effects.

Any suggestions for the Tube? Maybe a neck fan.

Also, while DH felt he was being boiled alive, I quite enjoyed the "heatwaves" compared to the usual sweltering heat back home! So I think all the online posts and headlines comparing UK heat to tropical countries (usually with humidity factor of 80%, 90% whereas the UK's is in 10%-20% range) were daft and untrue. I know this was unprecedented weather here, but there is a way to get a point across without exaggeration.

Is this a joke post? I can't afford to put my heating on and am currently sat on the sofa with a thermal vest, long-sleeved top, hoodie, jeans, thick socks, slippers, two blankets and a hot water bottle!

Are you always so dramatic about something that might not happen? I would imagine that more OAPs will die of hypothermia this winter than you 'not being able to stand it again'.

Possibly the most selfish post I've ever read.

Screen shot of just an example of the weather we experienced for a few days in Reading, July last year.

For the people who don't believe....

When temps hit 40 odd here so 45+ in my house, I took the kids and booked into a local hotel that has air con in the rooms. Pretty pricey but I’d do it again!

Possibly the most selfish post I've ever read.

I disagree. I don't like the cold either, but I think some places in the UK were much hotter than where we live, and some people really do have as many issues with the heat as those of us who do with the cold.

Yes, but it hasn’t improved since privatisation either has it? And those responsible are now companies making a healthy profit, which in any other business you would be re-investing to ensure you could continue to supply water to your customers. I am happy to be corrected but that isn’t happening. It’s a disgrace anyway that water is wasted but if summers are to continue to heat up surely it should be an absolute priority to modernise the infrastructure to minimise waste? It won’t solve the problem but it will alleviate it. If countries without the rainfall of the UK can harness the natural resources they do have to irrigate crops and provide water then surely what is meant to be one of the richest countries in the world can do much more.

Yanbu op -im shocked at the number of people who can't remember how bad it was and judging you for being scared.

There were so many threads about struggling in the heat. And given the number of threads of people still struggling to pay their bills I'm astonished the number of flippant "yabu just buy air conditioning if you're that bothered" responses you've had.

I'm already starting to think if there's anything else I can do to prepare for a heatwave this year. My old dog really struggled last year and was very unwell 2 or 3 days in particularly because of the heat, even with appropriate precautions taken.

One thing I did find made a big different to internal temperatures was blackout material against the windows - I used this

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08NZXM3HN/ref=psdcmw_11716391_t1_B0B28LPCBD and it made things much more pleasant inside.

It is way too far off to predict.They are just stirring the climate change pot!

I really don’t recognise your description of last Summer and I’m in the same area.
if you can’t afford A/C use regular fans with big bottle of iced water in front!

I think you’ll be in the minority. I just can NOT wait for summer. Scraping ice off the car, bundling up the kids in hat,scarves, gloves for school, astronomical heating bills. This winter has been brutal. I can’t wait to ditch my winter boots and big coats for summer clothes. Everyday I walk around the garden, longing to get all the furniture out and see the children playing out in the sun. Personally I find parenting young children a lot easier in the summer months.

I absolutely hated it too OP. I have a serious heart condition and struggle to get my breath when it’s so hot. I was out a 4am walking the dog before being pretty much unable to do anything during today.
Fingers crossed for an average British summer!

YABU

I think you need to try and figure out how to be more resilient. You can't spend your life terrified of summer, or heat, or discomfort. It's not sustainable or healthy.

So many people being twats on here.

Last summer I spent about £200 on home and portable fans. But our home is a 1960s box, exposed on every side with large windows. Flat roof. No insulation. Tarmac on 2 sides which radiates heat. Single skin south facing brick wall behind our bedhead - could literally feel the heat radiating off it all night. Tied accommodation so no chance to move or improve. Don't think we can afford to run aircon all summer as well as trying to heat in the winter (for a few hours a day). The only grace is that our concrete floors are good for lying on in summer.

Our children have additional needs. One in particular has a very poor sense of body temperature and has to be directed to add or remove clothing, plus medications that affect his balance of fluids and hydration. He loves to be active but pushes himself until he drops unless basically bribed to sit down and eat an ice lolly. The hot, humid weather is genuinely very hard to manage for him. I have always hated and hidden from hot weather but when will schools and shops and offices switch to a summer timetable so they're in by 6 and out by midday and we can all rest in the heat of the day?

I'm fucking sick of it and sick of "ooooh I love it" and sick of "it's just a few days" when in my adult life summers have got hotter, drier, and more extreme and our housing and society is not adapting.

I started being anxious about this coming summer in October last year, so you're not alone, OP! However I have since been addressing ways to lessen what I'm concerned about, which is mainly the bedroom, which is the hottest room in the house (upstairs and west-facing). So have looked into various ideas for how we might cope if we get more very hot days.

I am thinking of getting new light coloured heat reflecting curtains, possibly another folding bed for downstairs (where it's far cooler), bamboo mattress topper (said to be much cooler than the other kinds) etc. This has re-directed my worries away from the heat to solutions for coping.

Honestly am surprised how many here seem to have forgotten how bad the heat was for some and it was certainly for more than 4 days! Threads with people complaining and others saying 'it's hotter when you're on holiday!' with retorts of 'but we're not used to it in the UK!' Just look back for the threads.

I experienced truly dreadful long, hot summers in Australia as a child and teen, but my health now (hypothyroidism) means I am not as physically able to control my body temperature and so heat makes me suffer far more (as does cold).

How is saying she’s anxious about another bastard hot summer ‘winding everyone up into a frenzy’?

She didn't just say she was anxious.

She said she was terrified and tried to claim the UK had 24k deaths due to the heatwave when the actual was only 3k.

Of course that's winding people up into a frenzy. She's posting stuff that's untrue to justify her panic.

Can you buy a portable air conditioner at an 'off peak' time of the year at a reduced price before everyone is trying to get one and demand has gone up? Perhaps get a couple of powerful fans as well to dot around your home? Yes it was hot but no different to what is experienced in many parts of the mediterranean or Southern Europe every summer. Heat related deaths probably had reasons behind them - a health vulnerability or misadventure from too long in the sun/heat exhaustion etc. If you know it may be coming again you can plan for it.

To the people saying there were only about 5 hot days last summer, do you not remember the reservoirs completely drying up? The grass where I live literally shrivelled up to hay.

Have a plan, especially if there are air-conditioned buildings you can spend part of the day in.

Slide to the left and use the report link.

Think blackout curtains will be the way to go this year. My animals were struggling in the heat too.

What worries me most of all that I didn't mention in my OP is that my DD is extremely prone to fevers and heat-related illnesses and has previously suffered from febrile seizures. So not only am I scared for my own health, but also hers. Any time the temperature shoots up she gets dangerously close to feverish and cannot regulate her temperature.