Daft advice

Boadicea Surely it should be white fabric, not black? That will absorb heat.

Closed the blinds when sun wash shining on the sunny side of house in the morning, opened in afternoon. Did the same in opposite side later in day. Never felt house was dark or felt bored. I always don't run tap when cleaning teeth, taught that when young and old habits die hard.

Graphite - I agree with your comments - just need to add that it's billion not million when you multiply 55 million people x 24 litres. 1.3 billion litres. That would fill over 500 Olympic size swimming pools.

Thanks, Seapebble. My mistake. It didn't seem quite right at the time. Just shows what happens when you take the wrong number to start with and ask Google what that much water would fill.

What a terrible and costly waste of a precious resource.

Thanks Grandmafrench a timely reminder. I am wearing sun glasses very much more now and the closed curtains are essential on the south and west facing windows.
I agree if this is the face of future summers then we will have to adapt our life style. I hope schools will open earlier in the summer as well as shops. Trains and buses start running earlier as well.
We were warned that the south of England would become more like the Med. It just seems to have happened more quickly.

For goodness sake. I thought this forum was used by the more life experienced section of the country. If after all these years you don’t know how to look after yourself in the warm weather then maybe you should just sit in a dark room.
Will you also need advice in the winter months when the temperature heads towards zero

M0nica

Most houses have rooms facing in more than one direction. Pull the curtains in the rooms facing south, and those facing east in the morning and west in the afternoon, and sit in the room that doesn't have the sun beating in. Simples.

67 million people all saving a couple of litres a day awful lot of water.

Yes!

Gango

For goodness sake. I thought this forum was used by the more life experienced section of the country. If after all these years you don’t know how to look after yourself in the warm weather then maybe you should just sit in a dark room.
Will you also need advice in the winter months when the temperature heads towards zero

Are you overheating??

If it's brown, flush it down. If it's yellow let it mellow.
From Oz, where else. Courtesy of Kathy Lette.
They have a permanent and serious low water reserves.

I always follow that advice, much to my grandsons absolute disgust.

I agree with all the PPs saying why would you ever run the tap while you are cleaning your teeth anyway, and if everyone turned it off this would certainly save a lot of water.

Also with those saying just sit in rooms on the non-sunny side of the house if possible, with the curtains open. You don’t have to shut all the curtains.

It keeps the sink cleaner if you clean under running water.
Any big dollops of toothpaste get washed away there and then, so a wiick wipe over is all that's needed after.
I don't run the tap, though.
I used to, but it's an easy habit to change.

HelterSkelter1

Salty food was recommended. Olives, feta, anchovies and sardines. And to drink diluted yogurt with mint. Also cool tea with mint.

Yuk

The article about keeping cool in hot weather was in Saturday’s Guardian, in the magazine, IIRC.

I balked at the yoghurt drinks because I can’t stand yogurt, but most of the advice was sound. I just drink cold water or warm tea. The important bit is taking adequate fluids, they can be in any form.

The piece of advice I completely disagreed with was from the person who said that showering three times a day helped. 😱

PS Where did the 24 litres wasted by teeth cleaning come from? The quantity mentioned originally was 1 litre…

People must have big mouths...

I put toothpaste on my electric toothbrush and use it to brush my teeth. Why on earth would I turn the tap on and let it run for two minutes while I'm doing that? It would be no different if I were using a manual brush. I swoosh with a mouthful of water and I'm done.

MaizieD

PS Where did the 24 litres wasted by teeth cleaning come from? The quantity mentioned originally was 1 litre…

My arithmetic based on someone leaving the tap running for two minutes while they clean their teeth. See my post yesterday.

Water flow from a standard tap is about 6 litres per minute so 12 litres for a two minute teeth brushing, twice a day, is 24 litres.

It's could be an exaggeration assuming people open the tap fully but it's possible.

MissAdventure

It keeps the sink cleaner if you clean under running water.
Any big dollops of toothpaste get washed away there and then, so a wiick wipe over is all that's needed after.
I don't run the tap, though.
I used to, but it's an easy habit to change.

It occurred to me that spitting into the loo after brushing my teeth rather than the sink would be better for keeping the drain clear, and so that's what I do. Can't see the point of running the water while cleaning teeth.

Thats a good idea.
There again, if you watch people clean their teeth, everyone seems to do it differently.
Some use loads of saliva, some keep it neatly in their mouth, some scrub, some gently poke around with their brush.

Its a fascinating world, the teeth cleaning one.