AIBU to be fed up with the heatwave panic?

[Iwanttobeafraser]

I'm fully aware that ots of people are goign to tell me I am BU but my god, I am so tired of the trauma over this heatwave.

The endless facebook posts (and MN) about if someone dares to take a dog out in the heat - my local page had pictures of three dogs, looking pretty relaxed, albeit with their tongues hanging out, and a story about how she cornered the woman who had gone into the shop (to buy fags! [gasp]. If that's even true.) and then the woman was rude to her and basically 500 posts agreeing how awful those poor dogs must be finding things.

The people who can't leave the house because it's too hot.

The trauma about whether the kids should be allowed out because it's too hot for them.

Blah blah blah.

It's hot. Yes, it means you have to adjust a few things. Yes, you might not lke it. But it's not the end of the bloody world. I don't like the cold. But it doesn't cause me to be completely unable to do anything, go anywhere, or let my children do anything.

Yeah OK, your mum worked from 3 months old. This was not usual, though.
I wonder if this was full-time work but I really am digressing here.

My point is that you cannot reasonably compare '76 to' 26.

Actually your age is irrelevant because I know people in their 70s who do this.

My mother does it for sure.

I don't blame her, really, cause time stands a bit more still when you're an adult. (although she'd still have only been in her early twenties) but for me '76 is literally babyhood to middle age so is a lifetime ago.

Believe me if there was social media back then (but in order for it to be everything else would be different too) they'd be complaining about the heat on it.

For my dh who's ten years my senior it was all fun and games riding his bike and staying out all day with his friends.

Literally from early morning to night.

And he is from a very 'naice' background.

I mean

I’m 18 weeks pregnant and struggled yesterday but I didn’t complain I just got on with it and sat in the coolest spots I could find and still engaged in games/activities with my other child.

for me it’s the dog situation just don’t walk your dog in the hottest parts of the day let it be cool let the pavement cool down let the air get a bit of a breeze to it put the welfare of the dog above your need to get the walk done like you said 8am.

we aren’t well equipped for this weather however it does come every year. I don’t particularly enjoy it but I certainly don’t complain and on the bonus side I don’t have a dog to neglect by walking it in pure ignorance at the hottest time of day 🤣

Completely agree. Mine went swimming with friends and I out the fear of God into him. It's also why I insisted my children do swimming lessons for longer and when I take them.swimming I am quite "aggressive" eith making them.try new things. To pass her test to be allowed to swim alone at our local pool, dd had to tread water for 2 minutes. I .ade her do it for 10, while I splashed her and made waves! 🤣🤣.

Teenager stupidity scares me shitless

Completely agree. Mine went swimming with friends and I out the fear of God into him. It's also why I insisted my children do swimming lessons for longer and when I take them.swimming I am quite "aggressive" eith making them.try new things. To pass her test to be allowed to swim alone at our local pool, dd had to tread water for 2 minutes. I .ade her do it for 10, while I splashed her and made waves! 🤣🤣.

Teenager stupidity scares me shitless

I remember 1976, internet wasn't a thing, social media wasn't a thing. It was definitely in the news every day and people talked about it all the time. As a child yes I did my fair share of whining as did most people. There was a lot of whining about stand pipes, yes in lots of areas we had to line up in the street to collect our water in buckets and pans, kids too. Yes people moaned, yes it was on the news, it was hell for alot of people

I don't think it's ever been close to 40 degrees where I live in the UK - though I do remember being "too hot" that July!

I know I'm being unreasonable here but the expression 'glorious weather' really irritates me.
While I am not an Autumn/Winter person, my idea of glorious weather is a sunny, dry Spring day with a temperature of about 18c.
Yeah that's glorious.

This weather comes with so many obvious drawbacks, I don't see how anybody could describe it as glorious.

It's shit.

I live near Cambridge where the hottest temperatures are often recorded. It hit 40 degrees several times that summer.

I describe it as glorious as it stops all my joints aching and I'm far more mobile

Exactly! The first day we had nice weather there was a thread about how hot it was! People need to get a grip, I don’t spend the whole of winter (well 9 months of the year!) moaning about how cold or wet it is.

It severely affects my health. No I'm not going to just get a grip 😡 Jesus Christ

@Livpool

It’s the “oh you MUST enjoy it, it’s glorious, it will soon be over” speeches that really piss me off. I’m not there telling other people to revel in the fucking rain and snow just because I myself love that weather. It’s the assumption that we should all love it that’s annoying.. get out there and make the most of it…. No thanks

I think this is a question of different circumstances and tolerances. We're not too badly off because, although we live in an urban area, we have a (tiny) garden with a small patch of grass that becomes a complete mud bath from the paddling pool and the kids roll and wallow in it like little pigs to keep cool. So they can always cool off in the garden.

But I walk along the terraced, densely-packed streets around our house and it is hot. Like boiling hot. If we didn't have our small garden to cool down in, we couldn't cope with it. And there are lots of families living round about us in high-rise overcrowded flats with no outside space for a paddling-pool or sand pit or even just a shady corner. And many of the houses around us have replaced their grass with paving or artificial grass, which of course makes everything hotter.

I remember my DH suggesting that we do the same when we moved into our house. MIL was very pro it as well because artificial grass is "so low maintenance and neither of you are gardeners". I am so pleased every summer that we didn't, even if we're looking at a muddy, weed-filled half-bare patch of dirt for much of the year.

It was a big deal in 1976. People struggled in many ways and it was headlining the news. I remember it well, as I was 7-months pregnant.

I also think it was a very big deal in 1976! I was at primary school and there were loads of measures. We had paper over the windows, due to the drought you were only allowed a couple of cms water in the sink to wash your hands. There were activities we couldn’t do. I lived in a culdesac where the kids all played constantly and I remember it was silent until evening when we had some fab evenings playing much later than normal.

And it was huge on the news too and I remember people talking about it for years after (as we then seemed to endure year after year of bad summers).

I remember the heatwave of 1976 and I wasn't even born. It was very much a big event that was talked about years after.

In France (and probs many other places in Europe) we had a big heatwave in 2003, 40+ for weeks, it was painful but now it's almost routine.
(and yes, dogs are walked in Paris)

Perhaps, more than anything, that shows another side to how little the average, perfectly healthy, person in the UK understands about hot weather. There are plenty of people at both extremes.

If only everyone was as clever and educated as you, eh?

Yes, weird how some people say it wasn’t an issue and “we all just got on with it” isn’t it?

The damp severely affects my asthma but I have to get on with it for months but I don’t moan all the time

Fair enough! I don’t think people need to enjoy it, we’re all different.

My dad was a postman in 76. He always said it was the nicest time he ever worked , outside all day in the sunshine

Mum wasn't so keen being stuck inside a shop wotking

I find extreme reactions of normal healthy people very irritating. The squealing about snow days and the hysteria when the sun comes out annoy me. Many people are at work and just getting on with life without making a fuss, despite the discomfort. The media loves it too; I find it embarrassing.

I save my ‘extreme feelings’ for the elderly unable to heat their homes in freezing weather or the people with health conditions that can dangerously worsen in the heat.

That’s fair. I find the contempt for other people’s feelings irritating.

Good job we are all different 🤣

I tolerate heat quite well, but I prefer temperatures in the mid 20s to the weather we had over the bank holiday weekend and yesterday.

I like to be able to wear dresses and have bare feet (when at home) and not have to bundle up every time I want to leave the house. It was significantly cooler last night and we both had a better night's sleep.

It's currently 18 degrees and sunny where I am.

I do wonder if less ppl would search for these dangerous ways to cool off if air con was fitted in homes as standard.