‘Thousands of deaths’

nanna8, I think you live in Australia, where houses and the built environement are built to cope with the weathe.

It is the same in the UK, but are houses and built environment are designed to hold heat in, because we live in a colder country and keeping warm in 3 seasons of the year and reducing emissions is the goal of new buildings.

Supposing some off your hottest areas, were suddenly to have a cold snap where the temperature does not rise above 5 degreesC for several weeks. Temperatures our houses are built to cope with on a day to day basis. I think all those living in thse airy uninsulated houses would be worrying about coping with the cold, keeping houses warm and the dangers of death from hypothermia.

I lived in Malaya and Singapore as a child, before air conditioning and everything was designed to keep us cool and it worked very well. I am now sitting in a house designed to keep me warm - and it is doing so very effectively.

Babies in prams round here with the bluddy winter hoods UP and a muslin cloth draped over it too to keep the sun off! Can you even imagine lying in that pram? It must be like an oven! ?

What on earth happened to the best idea of removing the hood and clipping on a large square parasol to let the AIR circulate? Babies (as well as the elderly) have difficulty in regulating their body temperatures.

Please mummies - think on.

Merlotgran
I like your style ? Have a lovely evening ?

nanna8

Oh what’s wrong with people ? What about the majority of countries in the world where we have very hot weather every single year ? I haven’t heard of large numbers of deaths because of it, even in ‘third world’ countries. Load of rubbish. Of course there will be a few, just as there are when it is freezing cold. They need to get a life.

Just because you haven't heard of large numbers of deaths in other countries doesn't mean that they don't happen. Why would our media bother telling us about such deaths in third world countries? It's simply not newsworthy here. They know that most people here wouldn't be interested, and quite frankly, shocking though it is, probably wouldn't care.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

This is a good account of what happened. The reported
deaths started slowly, but the hospitals quickly became overwhelmed and then unable
to cope. It caught everybody out including the nursing staff
and the politicians who were all on holiday

Since then many rules in old people's homes were introduced
and every Mairie in the land has to be responsible for its
elderly citizens during a heat wave.

Sparklefizz

This morning a doctor giving advice on how to sleep better during the heatwave suggested discarding the duvet!!! Who'da thought it??????

I was so grateful for that message. If I hadn’t heard it on the news I might never have thought of it myself. Did they advocate not wearing thick pyjamas, bedsocks and the night cap as well?

Urmstongran

Babies in prams round here with the bluddy winter hoods UP and a muslin cloth draped over it too to keep the sun off! Can you even imagine lying in that pram? It must be like an oven! ?

What on earth happened to the best idea of removing the hood and clipping on a large square parasol to let the AIR circulate? Babies (as well as the elderly) have difficulty in regulating their body temperatures.

Please mummies - think on.

You’re right Urmstongran. That’s where some of the deaths occur unfortunately, and older people who don’t recognise that they need to drink more, people in airless high rise flats with nobody checking up on them, people collapsing when they go shopping in the heat of the day, more road accidents, drownings etc. etc. as well as chronic conditions that are exacerbated by the heat.
People are fed up of being warned, me included, but there’s no getting away from the reality that this is happening due to the excess heat.

Mollygo

Sparklefizz

This morning a doctor giving advice on how to sleep better during the heatwave suggested discarding the duvet!!! Who'da thought it??????

I was so grateful for that message. If I hadn’t heard it on the news I might never have thought of it myself. Did they advocate not wearing thick pyjamas, bedsocks and the night cap as well?

And egg-sucking tutorials will be available on YouTube to those over a certain age with multi-generational dependents? ????

Urmstongran

Babies in prams round here with the bluddy winter hoods UP and a muslin cloth draped over it too to keep the sun off! Can you even imagine lying in that pram? It must be like an oven! ?

What on earth happened to the best idea of removing the hood and clipping on a large square parasol to let the AIR circulate? Babies (as well as the elderly) have difficulty in regulating their body temperatures.

Please mummies - think on.

I had that very same thought, Urmstongran.

In fact, a couple of days ago, I saw a regional news item where a mum in a park was being asked what she was doing to keep her baby safe in the heatwave.

The mother gave all the commonsense answers - but then got up to leave, put baby in a pram, pulled up the dark-coloured hood and draped a cover over it as she stepped out of the shade.

I dread to think how quickly and how high the temperature would have been under there within minutes!

Leo Hickman
@LeoHickman
The Daily Mail has - you've guessed it - given over its lead comment slot today to a writer attacking the "woke" "climate alarmist" Met Office.

I'd never heard of him, though. So I googled him.

He's a "speech writer and consultant" for "companies operating in the energy sector"

Thing is those with common sense will use it, those without it will ignore the repeated advice and suggestions. Eg elderly people who don’t feel thirsty are not going to drink more because they’ve been told to by 10 different newsreaders, but elderly people who know they may become dehydrated and suffer a fall as a result will drink liquids throughout the day whether they need to or not.

Your post Urmstongran reminded me of the sun canopy we had over our Restmor pram for DD and DS, born 1974 and 1976, (the latter in the heatwave of 76, in the August).

It was a brown and orange colour, ? but loved pushing them out with it up, felt so ‘young trendy mum’.

Oh, happy days!

?

Oldnproud The 30,000 excess deaths in Europe, 14,000 in France in the 2003 heatwave hit the headlines all over the world.

In countries where the weather is always hot the whole built environment and daily life style is geared to keeping cool. In northern Europe where colder weather predominates , housing and our lifestyle is adapted to keeping warm.

A prolonged cold snap in a hot country, with houses built to lose heat would be just as devastating as the excessive heat is in this country and others where our houses and lifestyles are geared to keep us warm.

These silly comparisons shed no credit on those who make them.

Mollygo
Don’t forget to discard the hot water bottle too

I remember those canopies with such fondness. They always made me hear the 'surrey with a fringe on top' song.

My house is fully insulated against the cold in winter, the loft, the walls and the windows. All fully insulated to keep out the cold. And guess what, that insulation will also keep out the heat. My living room yesterday was far cooler than my garden. The walls are insulated, the windows double glazed, blinds and curtains closed all day. Very nicely cool unlike the garden.

ooh a large sprung pram with a beautiful canopy and a tray underneath the pram for the shopping, nostalgic

Urmstongran

Babies in prams round here with the bluddy winter hoods UP and a muslin cloth draped over it too to keep the sun off! Can you even imagine lying in that pram? It must be like an oven! ?

What on earth happened to the best idea of removing the hood and clipping on a large square parasol to let the AIR circulate? Babies (as well as the elderly) have difficulty in regulating their body temperatures.

Please mummies - think on.

Oh yes, those lovely big prams and the broderie anglaise canopies with a green lining which reflected the sun!
Sometimes oldfashioned is best.

I’ve had what I can only describe as ‘funny turns’ walking in warm weather over the last two or three years so I can believe heat can play a part in finishing you off. When I’m affected a drink and a bag of crisps sorts me out. I put it down to old age but it’s a flipping nuisance.

my house is also fully insulated epc B, new build and able to cope with extreme cold. It has window vents and double glazing, the glass has thermal mass as has the house and even the insulation has thermal mass, the floor, the insulation between floors etc. Heat will always enter a house and be difficult to remove due to the insulation keeping hold of it. Naturally walls, roof tiles etc will warm up and the heat will build up

I use solar shading and air flow when appropriate but even with my `scientific` measures, my minimum temperature last night was 25, exactly the same as outside at 4am. Dark absorbs heat, white reflects heat. Roofs eg are dark in the uk. Tarmac is dark. Concrete jungles are like storage heaters, reservoirs slowly giving out their heat at night

What we have to face today is more hear added to what we started with today

Light painted exterior walls are more effective at keeping heat out than grey or brick or any other darker colour

I could not watch daytime TV yesterday because of the "advice" given re staying cool on every programme. At present it is 35C in London and rising.

I have been told to drink but nobody has given me a specific amount, how often and whether I should drink quickly or slowly sip it!

Shortly I will not responsible for my actions if hydration is mentioned even in passing.

karmalady

ooh a large sprung pram with a beautiful canopy and a tray underneath the pram for the shopping, nostalgic

And a toddler seat which fitted on the pram too, and toddler always needed to sit on the pram when we got to the bottom of the hill on the way home! "My legs are tired now".
Pushing pram, baby, toddler and a trayful of shopping up a steep hill - how did I do it?

forlornhope You should be passing 2 litres of pale urine during the day. If feeling dizzy, drink a can of original coke and add a tiny bit of salt. Sit down far more than usual in this heat. Kidneys have to work overtime, to excrete as does the skin.

kidneys/heart/lungs work in tandem one affects the other

Callistemon
how did I do it Youth ?

nanna8

Oh what’s wrong with people ? What about the majority of countries in the world where we have very hot weather every single year ? I haven’t heard of large numbers of deaths because of it, even in ‘third world’ countries. Load of rubbish. Of course there will be a few, just as there are when it is freezing cold. They need to get a life.

As has been pointed out above thousands of elderly people died in France back in 2003. The Met Office estimated that there were 20,000 excess deaths in Europe but apparently peer reviewed analysis put the figure at 70,000.

Sadly one of the reasons for the high number was that families were on holiday leaving their elderly relatives behind. It's one of the reasons why so much attention is being paid to the effects of extreme heat now.

Where I live we've had temperatures in excess of 100F for several days (taken from a thermometer in the shade) but we have retro fitted a combined heat/air con system in part of our house. We all move into our largest bedroom/office which is kept cool when we use it. The dogs love it.

Thunder and rain predicted for tonight which the dogs hate but the garden will love it.