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.

I'm from Aus and my mantra is Just Add Water. It sounds like you're already drinking loads of water, but keep your feet in a bath of water/ take multiple cool baths when the weather is hot. Stay indoors/ in the shade at peak heat times (12 - 3pm in the UK). During the day, if you can get out, set yourself up in an air-conditioned place like a cinema or shopping mall for the day. Whilst I live for the hot days here, I appreciate not everyone does xx

I am actually planning to move us all to the North East of England in a year or two, partly due to the weather. I can see it getting worse as the years go by and I really don't cope well in heat.

oh my god i HATE the heat in this country!!

im in the South East and it was relentless wasnt it?!

I have invested in some dyson fans so much better than a normal fan. We were considering air conditioning but too expensive. x

YANBU. Which is why we're getting ceiling fans fitted soon (also Liverpool!)

It won't cool the rooms a lot but I found we were ok with a fan and icy bottles of water, and keeping hair wet where possible.

We were 'lucky' in that we have one room that for some reason didn't seem to get too hot. So we were all in there!

I feel the same. I like summer if it’s not too hot but muggy ridiculous temperatures are not my thing. Sweaty and feeling unhygienic makes me moody and tired. Getting in the car it hell, doing basic chores is hell 😂I’m autistic too which doesn’t help.

I remember walking to pick my kids up from school in the few days of extreme heat we had last year. It’s only a few minutes away but I remember feeling like I was suffocating!

It was two weeks tops where it was completely unbearable… well for my family at any rate. I’m looking forward to the summer. Why not move to a place in the U.K. that’s a bit more tolerable weather wise if you can OP. No point staying in an area that makes you miserable if you can afford to move? If you can’t then look into ways of making it more bearable?

I’m not looking forward to it either, it’s the terrible humidity. I’ve been to other hotter countries that don’t feel nearly as bad as it’s not such a humid heat. The hot spells seem to get longer each year as well. I think we might all have to consider air-conditioning eventually.

Not a massive fan of heat. Last summer was heavily pregnant during the heat wave(s). Wasn't great but was over in a few days in the south east. I can't wait till the summer now though I'm freezing!
Also. Ceiling fans in the bedrooms. Silent ones. They exist and aren't that expensive. Also not pricey to run all night. Invest now, this probably helped. A lot.

Instead of getting your knickers in a knot why not look at getting a half decent air conditioning unit now before everything gets hot & sweaty so that your better prepared plan ahead!! You’ll be in a better position then!

and the temperatures here were astronomical

In Liverpool????

In the NW it maybe reached to the over 30 degrees temperature for maybe 2 or3 days. You’re being very silly.

Two or3 days of over 35 degrees is nothing. You learn to close up your house, draw the curtains, keep the house cool and dark during the day. If you have to go out, you go early, and you stay indoors in the hottest part of the day.

Two or 3 days of over 35 degrees is nothing. You learn to close up your house, draw the curtains, keep the house cool and dark during the day. If you have to go out, you go early, and you stay indoors in the hottest part of the day.

Some of us were working. I was just thankful that I was only outside for 20 min spells in my work trousers, hard hat, and hi viz.

There were blokes working on the roads in Birmingham. Just cracking on with it, using pneumatic drills etc.

I don't think the lady is being unreasonable
A little nervous perhaps
Let's remember we did have weeks of 30°c+ heat and a couple of places above 40°c
40+ degrees centigrade is unheard of for the UK
I mean we had wildfires in London FFS
I can't get my head round people who don't accept climate change, I'm in my forties and I've seen it change before my eyes

I have grown to develop a fear of our summers.

It is my least favourite season.. I experienced the mid seventies.. and last year was similar. Heat, sweat, chafe, sleeplessness...brown grass, dying plants...vile..

Roughly where do you live? Move to Scotland! It definitely wasn't that hot here.

Definitely, while the hottest heat wave was going on, I was in the highlands on the West Coast, let me tell you, there was NO heat wave! Not even close.

Many many countries have consistently hot summers - Australia, America, most countries in Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East.

People work through them. But they adjust. In the US or Australia, people stay work earlier, IME, so as to beat the heat.

It’s ridiculous to get all her up about a few days over 30 degrees in the UK. Try the whole of July (or January in the southern hemisphere).

It makes you look daft and very very insular.

And my POV does not mean I deny global warming. But if you’re lecturing people about global warming and run a car or have more than one child, then stop being a raging hypocrite.

In the south it was pretty unbearable for a lot of weeks. All the fields and verges were scorched brown. It was a nightmare as a horse owner as they really struggled with the heat, had to feed hay in the field during summer for the first time ever due to brown shrivelled stubs of grass being all they had, it was too hot to ride even late at night, and the ground was like rock with big cracks in it so even on days it wasn’t so hot, the ground wasn’t great for horses legs.

Personally I bloody love hot weather and if it wasn’t for the horses I’d have been in my element.

It was pretty hot where we are, we were bang in the middle of the two hottest places. DH was on night shifts so had to sleep through the 40 degree days. All our bedrooms have blackout lined blinds though, which kept the worst of the heat out - by comparison our living room, right next to our bedroom, was unbearably hot. We kept all our windows open overnight then kept the blinds closed all day. The worst thing was that my Mum was in end of life care at home throughout the heat and keeping her cool was our main focus. It all feels a long time ago now. I have always struggled with heat so I do sympathise, but it does seem to be something we’re going to have to learn to live with and adapt to. I lived in Africa for 16 years and had 42 degree heat whilst pregnant and suffering from morning sickness, which was awful. We didn’t have air con but used to soak cotton sheets in water then wrap them around ourselves when we went to bed which really helped. I think it feels worse here though because we’re just not used to it and our houses aren’t designed for extreme heat.

It was a lovely summer and I can’t wait I’m utterly sick of being cold indoors and out.
I would say if the heat feels unbearable get your hormones checked.
I was the same a few years ago and previously loved the heat. It didn’t enter my head that it could be the menopause or the peri menopause. It gradually ramped up and then my periods stopped! So I’d suffered all the symptoms since my 2ndDC was born and had no idea!

I’m absolutely dreading summer too, and yes I’ve been thinking this in February!

I think some of us have very different tolerances in heat, I know a lot of people who are rejoicing that spring and summer is on the way, but for me it’s the complete opposite, the dread, the sadness and knowing my mental health will plummet to a low level, it’s not just on heatwave days, but all summer.

Last summer we barely got any rain or break from the sun in the NE, and in summer just from having to do anything get drenched with sweat, can’t cook down at all, and tap water is warm so have to chill it and constantly make ice, and even then it melts in minutes.

Sleeping is which really puts me in a bad state of mind with my mental health, my fan doesn’t help me sleep, had to use a waterproof mattress protector from how much I sweat, and sleeping is a near impossible task, and then waking up (if you actually had any) with a massive headache from swearing so much, my house just gets unbearable, even on non heatwave days my fans thermometer was reaching 35°C + and we do have insulation but it just keeps heat in.

Cooking anything is horrible as it just makes upstairs of the house and even hotter since heat rises.

I’m a fairly active person and I work!

I think one of the factors to why I may struggle more is growing up poor we never had heating on, so you adjust to the cold; I rarely get cold whist others are shivering, but it just makes summer unbearable beyond words.

I’ve looked into air conditioning but those portable ones are very very energy intensive and I really cannot afford my electric bills to double.

I like the heat but come on, it was hot. It broke the temperature record in England, Wales and Scotland FGS.

I think you need to formulate a plan. You can't lose weight but what about:

• fitness, training
• hydration sachets, electrolytes
• don't drink hot drinks, use oven, unnecessary appliances and lights.
• open windows when temp outside is lower than inside. shut windows when temp outside is higher than inside.
• look at your clothing, only wear loose cotton.
• don't use lotions, moisturisers and so on. tie hair back.
• if you can take annual leave during that time, go up to Scotland or somewhere cooler.

At the end of the day it was really hot but not for a massively extended period so try to view it like that and get through it. Having said that, I think a lot of the comments poo pooing it are maybe from people who weren't in inner city flats in direct sunlight for example.

I’m not sure where all the people saying it was y that hot were last summer but I remember it being roasting for weeks. I live in East Anglia and it was like being Dordogne! We went to Scotland in August which was freezing by comparison and I was actually glad to get home to the parched grass and the heat! I’m not dreading summer, more just reasoning that this is the norm now and we have to deal with it. Look in to having air con installed, having tiled/ stone floors and putting shutters on windows.

I'm in Yorkshire and a primary school teacher. For a couple of days last summer, I had to let my year 1 class sleep on the classroom floor for a couple of hours after lunch. Never had to do anything like that in my previous 20 years of teaching.

We bought an aircon two years ago. I'm fine with heat during the day but I need to be able to sleep. I also bought a really small blow up kiddie pool a few years ago and when I was pregnant I spent a few days sitting in that. Highly recomnend. Sleeping under a thin damp cloth can also really cool you off (but dries the skin).

Are you fucking joking…Liverpool? I thought your were going to say Dubai or something, you’re right on the coast ffs. Get a grip or buy a fan Jesus

🤭