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 am frankly, fresh out of fucks, about faux concerns for "poor flat dwellers" after all the head tilting concern about us during lockdown.

We were just fine thanks as we have any number of parks in walking distance including an actual wood.

It's also very strange English exceptionalism - plenty of people in warmer parts of the world live in flats without exploding with heat.

I hear you @Ginmonkeyagain. I would not swap my flat for a suburban house again thank you. We downsized last year and absolutely love our simpler, smaller life. The park is right outside our front door, 17 pubs with gardens in a 5 minute walk radius and we are as happy as pigs in shit 😂

Flat design in hot countries is different. For a start the windows are small and shuttered. Orientation of buildings are different.

My fringe hated it. Hot summer with a fringe is a match made in hell. I'm in the East and it was so hot for months, I was praying for rain. Not looking forward to it and I hope that it's not as hot as last year was.

I agree, my London flat was like a greenhouse!

Still I loved it, though the other British person in the house was dying 😁😁

I don't think it was that bad, due to low humidity in summer in the UK, the "real feel" temperature on the hottest day of summer was only 25C. For comparison, the "real feel" temperature where I'm from is usually near or above (yeah I don't know how that's possible) wet bulb temperature which is 38C.

I know it's a big change within the UK itself, but I think it's exaggeration to compare it to actually hot countries.

For balance I can't bear the cold though, I consider every single day of London winters brutal and Arctic like 😂

Remember every second of it. Hated it. Ruined my summer holiday. Can hardly walk dogs because it was too hot.

We got a small air con unit for the bedroom which made the nights bearable. Didn't cost much to run. Very well worth it

@Pants0nFir3 you ok hun?

Please can you share the calculator that gives a 'real feel' of 25c when the temperature is 40c? IIRC (which I might not be) we had around 20% RH which gives a heat index of 39c. Even if RH had dropped to 0% the lowest heat index can drop to is 35c.

My upstairs flat was too dam hot

Ds at 15 when we moved, his bedroom faced SW was so hot when we refurbished asked for a ceiling fan coz he fancied one. OMG it was brilliant. Oddly he went on to be an architect in Bermuda and had fans installed. They do work.

Can I ask people a question - do people not consider how hot and how cold a house/flat is likely to get before buying?

Not really. It’s a case of buying what you can afford
I would put air conditioning in an attic flat and thermal insulation and triple glazing in colder houses but beyond that it has always been a case of buy what you can afford.

We had only about 5 days where you needed to be careful of the heat if you are healthy and neither very young nor very old.

Move to Scotland. Its always cold there ⛄️ I love the hot weather and jealous that down south always have it lovely

We put stuff over our windows, it was surprisingly effective.

What I found frightening was the idiots starting fires and lighting Chinese lanterns. That's terrified me

I bought a drop down outdoor canopy for my 3m wide living room window in preparation, Last year I was sick of closed curtains from 1pm onwards and the heat just built and built, 32° was the max I remember. Hopefully the canopy will keep the heat off as well of the blinding sunshine.

@borg

Anything to keep the sun from hitting the glass will be brilliant. I wish we could get canopies here

My neighbour has a big drop down canopy outside her french doors which she says is brilliant. They have two chairs and a small table to sit in the shade. Before they did that it was awful she said

www.samsonawnings.co.uk/domestic-products/product-overview/drop-down-valances/

I’m on the south coast. I remember a bout of very hot weather but not continual all summer. I love the heat though, the hotter the better. Being a certain age I’m always hot and sweaty anyway 😂

We have one in our bedroom. Took a while to find a stylish one but it’s the best thing ever. It’s on most of the winter too as I get so hot at night.

www.argos.co.uk/browse/appliances/fans-heaters-and-dehumidifiers/ceiling-fans/c:789409/

My advice plan ahead whatever you opt for

I didn’t think about menopause, let alone how it may impact on how I felt in the heat when we bought our property when I was in my 20s which was over 35 years ago. Global warming wasn’t really a thing then either.

We did future plan in buying a bungalow though 😃