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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be terrified of the coming summer?

970 replies

screamingbanshees · 10/02/2023 07:49

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.

OP posts:
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9
Oakbeam · 10/02/2023 10:28

I'm astonished the number of flippant "yabu just buy air conditioning if you're that bothered" responses you've had.

The irony is that air conditioning is power hungry and just contributes to the climate change problem that has made it warmer in the first place.

Personally, it wasn’t an issue. I like warm and cope well in very warm climates, although I can’t deny that did slow down a bit on the couple of days last summer when it was really warm. I was working outside.

Moveoverdarlin · 10/02/2023 10:29

Liverpool can get horribly hot????? Eh? Can it???

SoupDragon · 10/02/2023 10:30

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.

That's pretty much how I feel about people posting that Winter is joyous.

ToDoListAddict · 10/02/2023 10:31

I'm dreading the summer too tbh
It was just so hot in my house even with the fans going constantly.
I couldn't focus on my work on the WFH days, and my office didn't have air conditioning so didn't get any relief there either.

Original poster
screamingbanshees · 10/02/2023 10:32

Veuvelily · 10/02/2023 10:21

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!

Clearly you missed my reply where I stated "We had multiple fans running in our bedroom, doors open, ice in front of/behind fans etc, and nothing worked for us.".

OP posts:
THEDEACON · 10/02/2023 10:32

Some folk have short or selective memories OP I am in Scotland and last year was hideously hot and uncomfortable I'd advise you stop stressing though and enjoy the current season

CheesenCrackersmm · 10/02/2023 10:33

The 40 degree days were not as bad as I was expecting. Stay in the shade and keep hydrated and most people will be fine. It is the 20+ degree night temperatures that I do not like very much.

ShakeYourTittyTattas · 10/02/2023 10:33

Last year in the SE we had a fair few weeks in the low 30's and then one week where it reached 40 degrees. I remember as I had a newborn!

I think you're being very anxious over this. We're going to have summers where it reaches high temps, but it's en par with European holidays.

therarebear · 10/02/2023 10:36

Don't blame you OP, I'm dreading it too. Last Summer we were lucky enough to have been booked to fuck off to Australia to see my partner's family and I couldn't get on that plane fast enough. The last day of my daughter's school was 40 degrees! I'm dreading this summer as our neighbours don't give a shit about anyone so they blast music, get mates around to shout in the garden with, and smoke loads of weed. So we end up shut in to try and block them out. Dreading it.

PinkPink1 · 10/02/2023 10:36

I’m in the North West and it was super hot here! Not sure why PP think 30C+ without air con is fine? I think it got to 39C here last year. I couldn’t leave the house during the day (I wfh), I couldn’t eat. I blacked out from heat stroke and woke up in an ice bath. Couldn’t even feel the ice. It’s different in other countries because their buildings are built especially for hot weather and everyone has air con. I’m pregnant and due in the summer. I hope it’s no where near as hot as last year.

ItsNotReallyChaos · 10/02/2023 10:37

One of the problems here was that at the point we started the heatwave (here it was three days of 38-39 degrees) it had already been in the high twenties for over a week before that. The house was already too hot. Had it been three very hot days after a fortnight of 20 degrees we would have stood a better chance of keeping the house a reasonable temperature.

Meridithsgrey · 10/02/2023 10:38

OP: AIBU

Everyone: Yes

OP: No I’m not

Maybe post on a different topic

banhmi · 10/02/2023 10:39

I sympathise OP. I found the 40C temperatures in London last summer really hard and I'm desperately hoping that this summer is a bit cooler.

I totally get that people struggling with heating bills at the moment but what is so worrying about the summer heat is that it is only going to get (much, much) worse as we shoot past the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5C in the next few years and head for 2C and possibly even more.

We are doing almost nothing as a country to prepare for this reality and our children will almost certainly grow old in a world very different to the one we knew.

Prepare for the heat, buy an air-con unit if you really must - but also speak up, lobby your MP, vote for parties that take climate change seriously.

wonderstuff · 10/02/2023 10:40

I’m hoping it doesn’t get as hot, schools had to close early around here on the hottest days in July, my kids school tried to tough it out, but when the temperature in the classrooms hit 40 and kids started fainting they declared an emergency closure. In the August heat the kids and I did head away for a few days in Wales which was bliss, we were lucky to be able to.

I do think it’s starting to get scary, and much as I absolutely hate UK winters I’m relieved that this year seems fairly average, a few years ago when it got hot in February really freaked me out.

CrunchyCarrot · 10/02/2023 10:40

I found my list of helpful items, OP:

  1. Bamboo mattress topper
  2. Fan pointed at open window (pushes hot air out)
  3. wet sheet hung in front of open window
  4. Reflective window film
  5. Dyson desk fan
  6. Project E beauty ice roller

Maybe investigate some of those ideas. :)

FlibbertyGibbitt · 10/02/2023 10:41

Don’t worry yet Op. they can’t predict next week yet alone 6 months !

Tirednest · 10/02/2023 10:41

John Lewis had an absolutely brilliant little fan. 15, rechargeable and powerful. Highly recommend if they are back in stock

ethermint · 10/02/2023 10:42

get yourself a decent fan and you will be ok.

LuckySantangelo35 · 10/02/2023 10:44

yabu

it really wasn’t that hot

how do you think people in the Mediterranean cope?

Grumpybutfunny · 10/02/2023 10:46

We loved it and hope it the same this year. I do think as a country we hopefully need to adapt to it being warmer. Hot tub on cold and a massive paddling pool. DH is desperate to dig a pool if we have another hot summer. Dyson fan in the bedrooms are amazing aswel

Throwncrumbs · 10/02/2023 10:47

Struth it’s too cold, it’s too hot….can’t wait for the spring, summer….sick of the cold tbh

Lentilweaver · 10/02/2023 10:48

I think the YABU responses are from people who have drafty old houses with gardens, room for pools and don't have to take the Tube daily! I wish ceiling fans were a thing in London.

Rebellious23 · 10/02/2023 10:48

Hated it
I'm allergic to heat and couldn't exercise so just sat in front of a fan miserable and itchy, and couldn't sleep

Ginmonkeyagain · 10/02/2023 10:51

@Lentilweaver I mean there is nothing stopping you getting one installed.

Original poster
screamingbanshees · 10/02/2023 10:51

CrunchyCarrot · 10/02/2023 10:40

I found my list of helpful items, OP:

  1. Bamboo mattress topper
  2. Fan pointed at open window (pushes hot air out)
  3. wet sheet hung in front of open window
  4. Reflective window film
  5. Dyson desk fan
  6. Project E beauty ice roller

Maybe investigate some of those ideas. :)

Thank you for actual suggestions rather than "move to x" or "it wasn't that hot"!

OP posts: