Quietly sweltering

~ beetleypete

The weather is big news everywhere at the moment.

Tragic fires in Greece.
People dying in Japan, after record high temperatures.
Fires in fields all over the UK.
People suffering from sunstroke, in Britain.

And a man and his dog quietly sweltering, in Beetley.

It is now officially the hottest summer since 1976. No rain of any note in Norfolk for six weeks, and constant daytime temperatures in excess of 32 C (90 F) every day. Last night, it didn’t drop below 21 C, and we woke up to another scorcher.

I’m still not complaining. I still haven’t forgotten that long dreary winter, or those years of almost constant rain. I am doing my best to enjoy this rare treat, making me feel as if I am living in a different country. Yes it can be hard to sleep, even using a large fan to cool the room. Yes being in a car is unpleasant, unless it has working air-conditioning, and yes it is hard for my poor dog, in his furry coat. But the alternative is worse, as far as I am concerned. Long wet days, tramping around in mud, wearing heavy coats and boots, carrying an umbrella. Windows closed against the torrents, and darkness by mid-afternoon. Did all the complainers forget so soon?

The TV News loves to see the black side too. Dire warnings about failed crops, and even a shortage of Christmas Trees, come December. Beaches closed for ‘public safety’, and blue-green algae contaminating open water. Hosepipe bans in the north-west, the wettest areas of the UK, a testament to the unpreparedness and inefficiency of those responsible for managing our water supplies. Gloomy predictions of more hot summers to come, and fears for a country totally unprepared to face them.

In a few weeks, the rain will have returned. It will start to get dark by 5 pm, and people will be having to heat their homes.

And not long after that, everyone will be complaining about the winter.

76 thoughts on “Quietly sweltering”

  2. Not complaining too much here either, long winter months ahead. I’m sweating to the oldies while my garden has been the best in years. With the drought there have been no battles with my garden being taken over by the slugs and snails. (Permaculture Beds working at their best in this heat and drought )

    Harvesting daily and smiling through the heat as I prepare dinner.

    Oh speaking of cooking as you’ve probably noticed I’ve changed the format of my YouTube channel from gardening to solely cooking channel , ” Food Thyme”

    I can easily cook for 365 days out of the year with ease, but the gardening usually short and fleeting.

    Hang in there and a freezer chilled tea towel at night is very cooling.. Just wet the towel ~ place in freezer and lay across .. instant coolness hopefully long enough for you to get to sleep.. Take care, Laura

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    1. Nice to see you here again, Laura. I haven’t been getting any notifications of your You Tubes, and thought you had stopped. I will have to check them out.
      Much cooler here today, after a big storm last night.
      Best wishes, Pete. 🙂

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  4. I am not a heat fan but I have done my best to embrace the weather more than I have done in past warm times. I even have a bit of a tan (and about 4000 freckles). I can’t say I am not looking forward to this weekend’s cooler weather though. The heat gives me almost constant headaches. It’s okay when I go to work because my office is air conditioned but I am now working an additional day from home each week. I just want to not be sticky and sweaty for a little bit.

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    1. I was enjoying it until yesterday, when it just wasted me for the whole day. I could now do with a break from the humidity, as it is also giving me headaches now.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. Great post 🙂 The summer you are describing in the UK right now is not too different from the summers we have here in Illinois. While I will admit that the current 85-89 degree weather my state has right now may seem comfortable compared to the 95-100 degree days we had in parts of June and early to mid July, this is still the type of weather I can live with. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂

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  7. My experience with heat and no AC dates back to the mid-1950s in Terre Haute, Indiana when everyone sat around in their underwear late into the evening. Then again in late 1969 in Columbia, South Carolina. After a week in Columbia’s August heat and humidity, I bought window AC units and have never strayed from having an airconditioned abode. My look at weather revolves around if the weather facilitates taking landscapes.
    Warmest regards, Theo

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    1. We have windows that open outwards, Theo, not ‘up and down’. I doubt the A/C window units would fit them, unless we had the windows changed too. As we have not had these temperatures since 1976, it would be hard to justify the expense. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Our neighbor has windows that open outwards from each side. Ten years ago, he opened the windows set in an AC unit, then put in a plywood frame that filled the rest of the open window. Then two years later, he had a piece of plexiglass cut to replace the plywood to let in the light. As for expense or cost, it depends upon how much discomfort one wants to ‘enjoy.’ I would add that our last dog, Sadie, often refused to go out in the heat until it was absolutely necessary and then stayed for a very short time.
        Warmest regards, Theo

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  10. I agree with what you say here, Pete, about people never being happy with the weather. I do think this unusually cold and then hot weather is a concern. I do believe that global warming is a natural phenomenon to an extent but we are accelerating it and it is possible that the reverse cycle may be impacted.

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  12. Extreme temperatures everywhere it seems. A few weeks ago I experienced 115 degrees in Southern California – now that was hot! Back in Seattle temperatures are in the upper 80’s and low 90’s and that’s hot for here too and I find myself wishing for a nice cool rain. But as you say, rain will return with a vengeance soon enough and I will long for sunshine again. So we better enjoy it while we can. Stay cool. ☺

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  13. Indeed, Pete. It’s the extremes that cause the oversized reactions…if we could just go back to 4 distinct seasons, life would be a breeze! Oh, I write this from Phoenix, Arizona, where it will hit 117 today, and 94 the overnight low…

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      1. I extend my sympathies to John Rieber. It’s usually a couple of degrees hotter in Phoenix than in Las Vegas. I don’t know if he lives there, or is just visiting, but at least he knows what those temperature extremes feel like. Not that such knowledge is enviable…

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  14. Why close the beach? When it’s hot, that’s the perfect time for a swim! By the way, we’re in the midst of what I hope* will be the hottest days of summer here in Las Vegas. This week, temps are in the 42-45° C (110-113° F) range, and so we’re under our annual “excessive heat warning.”

    *My hope is based on the fact that it can get even hotter here. The mercury has been known to rise to 47° C (117° F).

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    1. They closed the beach in question because of ‘rip tides’, apparently a result of the unusual weather.
      I hope you keep to just that ‘chilly’ 113 degrees, David. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. I so agree with you Pete! It’s also a heat wave in Belgium but I soak the heat and the sun because it will soon pour here! And funny enough I’ll be in London from tomorrow till Monday with the sun! Every time I go to England (I even lived there for some months) I have a sunny time. Who said it’s raining all the time in the UK??? LOL

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  16. I wonder if we complain because it is easier? It’s been raining almost solid here since last Saturday, no sign of letting up in the near future. Struck with cabin fever I went for a bicycle ride and got caught in a downpour. By the time I got home there had been not a drop of rain. Funny.

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    1. Strange how rain can be so localised. My wife used to work just three miles from home. Sometimes she would leave work in dry sunny weather, and arrive home ten minutes later to find it was pouring down here. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. Well said Pete. I am also enjoying not having a rainy summer. Now this really does take me back to living in Cape Town where the norm was dry from November to March followed by winter rains. Of course they haven’t had those winter rains for four years until this one. So it’s not all bad everywhere!

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    1. Just back from walking Ollie, and everyone I met was complaining about the heat and saying “we need rain”. When I said “not me”, they looked at me as if I was crazy. Short memories, of those months of relentless rain!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  21. Of course here in the NE we are not having the same hot temps as you, at least not every day, averaging around 22/23 degrees, which you’d think was pleasant, but not when the sky is just as grey as in winter and makes everything feel oppresive, so I’m complaining about that! Give me the sun and blues skies to go with!!!

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    2. We have had a few of those dull cloudy days too Fraggle, so I can empathise, not even any rain from them so pretty useless all round really. Today though the sky is blue, with some fluffy white clouds and the sun is shining, so I shall go and hang my washing outside!

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  22. I’m not complaining, either, Pete. We had some rain the other night. That seems to me to be the perfect solution – sunshine during the day and rain at night. The temperature has dropped a bit and there are clouds in the sky today so perhaps we are in for a change. Unfortunately.

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    1. It must have been a very pleasant change for you to have had such good weather in Scotland, Mary. No sign of rain here at all, I am pleased to say. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  23. You said, “Yes being in a car is unpleasant, unless it has working air-conditioning, and yes it is hard for my poor dog, in his furry coat. But the alternative is worse, as far as I am concerned. Long wet days, tramping around in mud, wearing heavy coats and boots, carrying an umbrella. Windows closed against the torrents, and darkness by mid-afternoon. Did all the complainers forget so soon?”

    If the automobiles have working air conditioning, then why cannot the residences also have working air conditioning? And, as to the complainers, they do it every change of season. When it is winter they are too cold and when it is summer they are too hot. How quickly they forget!

    You wrote, “Gloomy predictions of more hot summers to come, and fears for a country totally unprepared to face them.”

    Keep in mind too that the merchants and money-changers will take full advantage of the inclement conditions in order to raise prices on everything consumers purchase with the excuse that the weather is causing extra expenses in producing goods, transporting goods, obtaining goods and whatever other lame excuse they can find to raise prices on virtually everything.

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    1. Air conditioning in homes is rare here, John. We haven’t had such weather in 42 years, so it’s hard to justify the cost of installing retro-fit A/C. As for companies using the weather as an excuse to raise prices, you got that right! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. How about portable window air conditioners? Does anyone in the UK sell portable window units so that a person would not have the expense of installing whole house air?

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  25. Haha: it is in our nature to keep complaining about the weather I guess. Honestly though this heat is terrible and I hope the temperature is going to be dropping soon. Until that time you can find me sitting in a bucket of ice cubes 😂😂

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    1. When it goes on for so long, Michel, I actually get used to it. But I am in the countryside, and not in an apartment, where it is no doubt more uncomfortable.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  27. You know what they say, be careful what you wish for?🤣 Nature and the weather cannot be controlled, and it’s still within reasonable limits (in Dubai it must be over 50 centigrade, by now). I read yeasterday that you should wrap your bedding in cling film and pop it in the freezer for a while. Then at least you have cool sheets when you go to bed:-)

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    1. Thanks, Marina. Nothing as bad as your country has recently experienced of course.
      I’m not actually complaining. Anything is better than rain. Though I am not being careful what I wish for, I agree. But after almost six years of ‘no summers’, it does make a refreshing change to have light and warmth.
      I hope that Greece is spared any more tragedies this year.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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