The Gerbil World Cup at the Bluestocking!

[Magpiecomplex]

New thread.

No pushing at the back, please, we have plenty of scones and kilts for everyone.

We got up to 35° officially..the thermometer on my decking ( admittedly in the sun) has been reading 44° all afternoon.

It will be even hotter tomorrow.

Yikes! We might reach 35 on Thursday, but I think that's the forecast for the Big Town, and I am north of that and elevated a bit. I hope that makes a difference. I spent my childhood and early adult life navigating and putting up with sweltering New England summers, heat waves that could last for weeks, normal temperatures of 85F as a given, and much higher humidity. But, anything over 27C now just lays me flat. I overheat so easily now, so if I can I just stay in until it's over. If I tried to do that "back home" I'd never go anywhere all summer!

Chickadee, 70F sounds like bliss right now!

East-facing makes a real difference, doesn't it? One of my requirements for my next home is a downstairs room (of any size or configuration as long as it fits a single bed) that faces east or north, so I can still sleep when I can't do stairs anymore.

It's hotter than the hobs of hell here - at least 36. But I am holidaying on a Mediterranean island so air-conditioned hotel, bars, restaurants, buses. So all is good. Not so sure about tomorrow though. We've been in a bar for over an hour to make sure that we can watch England and the only destination that I can see is shit-faced.

It never occurred to me when I bought the flat. But it’s perfect.

I'm now in my sofabed in the downstairs room. In my defence, I was up at 5.00 and have been working at clearing enough space to use the room all day (yes, I did start the process at the weekend).

The cats are hugely disapproving. We have used this arrangement in the past, but not last year and possibly not the year before, so it is an innovation. I'm looking forward to having a dark bedroom - my usual one has six windows, this has only one.

Six windows smacks of greed, Dean...

Oh, phew! I didn’t recognise myself, which was a little confusing for a bit, but very relieved to hear it wasn’t me after all!

Kitty & I are off to bed soon. I was up around 5 too & feeling extra sleepy in the heat.

Thank you, and it’s lovely to see you here.

😂I think that was autocarrot, but yes, Brains works things out before Batshit even spots the problem.

That, or
'Come on, you idle biped cow.'😂
It's a super poem, Edith!

Hi Swash, nice to see you, hope things are going OK housewise x

G'night all, I hope you all manage to get some sleep - the S&D gerbils are grounded, I'm afraid, unsafe temperature and humidity, and the danger of lightning strikes..
Here's something to help you keep cool🌛

Morning all. Sofabed was a good call, I actually had to chuck a fleece over my cold feet in the small hours. Feline outrage has not completely dissipated but they've both come for morning cuddles and breakfast-related queries (they'll have to wait).

Main decision of the day will be whether to go to the coffee morning. I'd like to see my pals, but it involves being in the car. At least I have the ingredients for a re-hydrating and nourishing banana smoothie for lunch.

Take care in that heat.

Ooh, thank you Deano, good idea.

I was just contemplating whether toast counts as hot food and would add to overall body temperature, but decided instead to make a blueberry and banana smoothie for breakfast. 😁

Morning, all. Last night was definitely warmer, but I managed to sleep anyway. The house is warm already, even though every window in the house was open all night. Another day of hibernating I think. I don't even have laundry to do because I washed everything yesterday and it dried outside in about 30 minutes! (so there's a silver lining) School is closed in the village, I hear, as are many in the area.

I hope everyone's cats and dogs (and small furry creatures stay safe in the heat). I've read that it's particularly stressful for dogs. One of my cats previously had cardiomyopathy, so hot days were scary for us both.

Kitty helpfully woke me in the middle of the night by making “I’m going to throw up a hairball” noises in my ear & then kindly
jumped down to the carpet to do the business instead of staying on the bed.

I was woken at about 7am by DH checking it actually was misty outside and it wasn’t his eyes. It looks cool, and the grass is heavily dew-damp, but still 21°C.

Someone has decided today is a good day to get the chainsaw out, on a day when no one can close their windows. Not next door to me, thank goodness. I imagine it's either "necessary work " or someone from the village will have a word!

ps. well, I suppose I will have to close the windows by 10am anyway, and drawn the curtains. But there's a good breeze right now. <sigh>

Chainsaw????

26 here at the moment which is ok. I’m skipping the gym at the moment though because I’m sweating enough already. Stocked up on ice cream instead.

Overcast here and not too hot, forecast is for 26 max, which is too high for me to go out in, but tolerable inside my shady cavern.

It's been hairy sausage season here for the last couple of weeks, such joy.

I hope they are cutting up firewood, not cutting down trees, because it's the wrong time of year to be doing that, with all the birds nesting. Someone will have a word about that, as well. One good thing about living in a village, there are always people who have lived here for generations, and speak their minds, and don't care what anyone else thinks. At around 15 years, I don't qualify.

Ice cream good. Gym bad. 😁

Deano, I love the phrase 'breakfast-related queries', I know just enough about cats to imagine what that actually entails, and I don't think it involves their people reaching out to your people to pencil in a mutually suitable date and time😁
Glad to hear that most of us seem to be doing OK in the heat - it's not bad at all here in the east of Ireland, mid-high 20s, nothing like the mid 30s that some of you have been enduring, e.g. Fuzzy - hope it was bearable overnight.

I think it's wisest to just hunker down if you're lucky enough not to have to carry on regardless, which fortunately is my situation.
People who are working normally through this have my sympathy
Except the ones with chainsaws, obvs - unless it was not of their choice, maybe they were sent out to make safe a dangerous tree or something. Or maybe they are just thoughtless anit-social nuisances😠

We thought we’d get a walk in before it warmed up, went to the canal but after about a kilometre we started getting horseflied, for the first time this year. I had repellent and antihistamine cream but we decided discretion was the better part of valour. And then the sun burned through the mist.
Iced coffee, then I’ll freshen up and head off to my dental checkup.

I had the strimmer going at 8am , so I could do it in the relative cool. I won't have another chance until early next week, and no one wants nettles flopping over the footpath. And it was quick.

By 9am, when I came in from strimmering and hacking back, it was 29C in the shade. The house is 24C. Couple of upstairs windows are open, the downstairs windows are closed, back door closed, and curtains closed on all sunny windows except where Brains is sunbathing.

There's a decent breeze, which is something.