Is anyone up? Getting ready for the heat

Yes up and just off to shower. Plan is too make cucumber soup today , no cooking, but DH can’t see the point of cucumber, so don’t know how that will go down.?

We are in Normandy karmalady. It has been 40+ on the west coast including the far west of Brittany. Lots of records broken today.

The sea is 20* the beach 28* with a beautiful breeze a perfect day

I am the hottest I have been all day. So glad I had a decent lunch, as my kitchen is much too hot now.

wow mamie, that must be the highest amongst us. Mine is recorded as 35.

I am so relieved to have got through the day, I think it may be a long hot night for us all and me too, I have been very bored

We have just hit 39°. Downstairs is still 23° but we have had the shutters tight shut all day. The aircon is on upstairs (house is a barn conversion).

Smothered myself in this all day. Highly recommended. I think it repells the insects too.

Out early this morning. Lovely under the trees in the woods. Got any jobs done before 11am and now sitting with the blinds drawn and a pint of cold water.

foxie ✅ ?

Me too. Up 5ish, out with dog at 6, delightful down on the water meadows and she played in the river.
Then 8 hours spent mostly indoors with blinds down and the fan on. We are both very bored.

Urmstongran dog, I've managed to train OH to use the loo but both are capable of sleeping during the day whatever the weather!

crikey, people who never heeded the warning are dropping like flies. Now it is ds turn to help, he got an ambulance for an old woman he found collapsed in a street in a scottish city. out in 30 degree heat

searing is definitely the right word. Anyone crazy enough to go to the beach today will likely be in big trouble. I read that thousands have died as a result of the heat in portugal and france

I don`t know how the riders are coping in the tour de france. It was 41 degrees for them yesterday. At that temperature, they will be feeling nauseous and unable to drink, although they must. Brain fog too and unsurprisingly there were a lot of crashes

All those plastic grass lovers- don’t walk on it it or let your pets on it - it retains the heat so will be double what the air temperature is - so could be 60-80C - and cause severe burns. Real grass will be hot but about 10 degrees lower than air temp. Another reason for banning the evil plastic stuff.

Your OH or the dog foxie? ?

It is 24c in the house. Just hung out some sheets and it is searing. Goodness knows what the temperature is, but not something to be coped with for any length of time.

Felt chilly when I came back in!

It's a pleasant 74f in my kitchen but I just popped out into the garden and wow, it is just so hot, over 97F. tbh I wouldn't be able to stay out in it for long, it is unbearable and it's still getting hotter. I really feel for anyone who can't keep at least one room in the house cool. My bedroom tends to be warm so I shall be decamping to a cooler bedroom tonight. OH walked the dog very early and he's sleeping in a cool place, I doubt he'll be keen to even go out for a pee!

Necessity is the mother of invention. ?

I’m working from home abd used the frost cover for my car windscreen on the window and it is reflecting the sun quite well. Now 14:44 and sun over the other side of the house. Will use same technique tomorrow

This is the point when we suddenly remember it’s not like the Mediterranean.

At all.

We don’t even have a Fanta lemon and a bag of Lays to hand, let alone a turquoise ocean to sunbathe beside, under a parasol in a gently cooling breeze....

it is 35 out and 23 in, I have never managed an 8 degree differential before. It was 6 degrees when I first used and tested my flat parasol, a balcony shade that I can tilt any which way but have learnt to tie and ram in place or it is like a sail ready for take off when windy. I am glad I did my learning 2 days ago

The only real difference is me closing the N facing shutters, wooden pale plantation shutters. I think heat must have been radiating from car, drive and reflecting from pale rendered houses. All well and good. Dd is suffering in full ppf3 kit when seeing patients and a ppf3 mask all day long. I consider myself lucky

Haven`t dozed yet, don`t want to doze after 4. Just had a frozen hm yoghurt ice lolly, yoghurt was mixed with conserve. Really nice

I hope everyone is ok and coping. East side of England looks the worst

I’ve no idea what the temperature is in or outside, but there’s a breeze, which appears to be picking up, I have all the doors and windows open, it’s cooler in than out, so I’m curled up reading a book. I’m contemplating an early lunch, and then I have some work to do, damn it.

Hetty58. Does spraying the outside walls of your house actually do any good?

Surely all it will do is raise the humidity in the immediate area for a sort time so outdoor potted plants may benefit but it seems like an awful waste of water.

Lounging on my bed in a cool north facing bedroom with plantation shutters closed and a glass of water close by. My cleaners came early ( they started at 5 am apparently but came to me at 10am) so house lovely and clean. I gave them a bottle of cold water each to take with them, it had been in my fridge for a couple of days so would be cooler than the bottles they brought with them.

I might have a snooze later before going out to a WI meeting - the gin club! Outside in the garden, ice bucket and frozen lemons ready, what better way to spend the evening?

popped out to check the shading, no wind at all so those sail-like shades are safe and I won`t need them up by 2 anyway. It is unbearably stifling hot now

weather station: 31 out and 23 in. That is a better differential than I managed yesterday

The heat will now be radiating from solid structures, roads, pavers , houses etc so I have shut every shutter and the door curtain on the east side. Now I really am in a cave but am hoping to keep most of that temperature differential until tonight