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Win a Kindle Paperwhite worth over £100 plus a copy of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep **NOW CLOSED**

(602 Posts)
SorchaGransnet (GNHQ) Mon 16-Jan-17 15:23:26

To celebrate the publication of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a charming coming-of-age debut novel by Joanna Cannon, we're giving you the chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite.

Mrs Creasy is missing and The Avenue is alive with whispers. The neighbours blame the disappearance on the heatwave, but ten-year-olds Grace and Tilly aren't so sure.

As the summer shimmers endlessly on, the girls decide to start their own investigation. And as the cul-de-sac starts giving up its secrets, the amateur detectives find more than they imagined.

Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.

To be in with a chance of winning a Kindle Paperwhite worth over £100 & a copy of the book, tell us - do you remember the heatwave of '76? If so, what are your memories of it?

Post your entry below by midday Monday 13 February.

Usual T&Cs apply.

This discussion is sponsored by HarperCollins

grannyscott Wed 18-Jan-17 10:01:33

It was my first year as a newly qualified teacher up in a lovely South Yorkshire Primary School and it was so hot and airless that all the staff took chairs onto the playground at lunchtime to mark books. Such happy memories.

Coppernob Wed 18-Jan-17 10:04:24

The brick in the cistern to save water and syphoning the bath water out of the window to try and keep the struggling vegetable plants watered.

louiesgran Wed 18-Jan-17 10:05:24

I was revising for A levels- in a bikini in the back garden.

hilarylister Wed 18-Jan-17 10:11:28

I was heavily pregnant, with a toddler and found it so difficult. Would have loved it at any other time!

hollystone Wed 18-Jan-17 10:18:47

Doing exams in school and finding it very hard to concentrate as i wanted to be outdoors!

arranmum Wed 18-Jan-17 10:47:45

I was just pregnant with DS2 and suffered morning/afternoon/evening sickness ! Wasn't too pregnant to strip down to tshirt and knickers in the back garden playing with the kids and a hose though! Great fun!

trisher Wed 18-Jan-17 11:18:31

Coming home from work stripping off and catching the last of the sunshine in the garden. Summer evening parties wearing a long dress (I loved that dress, different shades and patterns in red ) and sitting outside drinking. (Can we gloss over the passing out in the strawberry patch, please.) By the end of the year I was pregnant as well and completely off alcohol anyway.

Nanalou Wed 18-Jan-17 11:27:52

This was the summer I took my GCE's -terrible results but had a fantastic sun tan!

franjo Wed 18-Jan-17 11:29:52

Camping with a group of young people in Derbyshire and playing rounders on the bed of a dried up reservoir near Ladybower

suttonJ Wed 18-Jan-17 11:45:54

DH built a garage, brick by brick, in the back garden....never having before done any brick-laying. What a hero!

libbyann Wed 18-Jan-17 11:51:55

Ahh 1976 was a very good year, my husband, of almost 40 years, proposed to me on by the beautiful Lake Windermere (which had a lot less water in because of the drought!!) we were both 19 years old and very much in love. Sweet memories are made of this.

bartonlady Wed 18-Jan-17 12:39:41

We too had standpipes and remember the unbearable heat in our little terraced house! Sometimes the queue for water was good natured and cheerful, but as the summer wore on Mums got edgy and tired! The army also delivered large bottles of water.

Now when we camp in Spain and buy water in similar size bottles I smile at the changes in our life!

I was 26 years old in 1976, I had married at 18 years old, so remember it well.

cwasin Wed 18-Jan-17 12:44:42

I went on holiday with my boyfriend, ooh la la. We went to St Ives and spend a blissfully happy 10 days.

Anya Wed 18-Jan-17 12:46:02

Yes, I remember it as a magical summer. My children were 4 & 5, a magical age. We lived in a seaside town and were out to the beach and in the sea, with friends and their children as much as posdible.

Remember DH rigging a hosepipe from the bath outlet, across the outhouse roof and onto the vegetable garden because of the hosepipe ban.

gillybob Wed 18-Jan-17 13:24:56

I was 14 in 1976. I remember (what seemed like) a never ending hot summer like it was yesterday. My best friend and I cut all our trousers and jeans up into "short shorts" complete with cheese cloth floating tops we thought we were the bees knees. I remember filling an old plastic baby bath with cold water and sitting on the front step with our feet dangling into it to keep cool. When my mam had gone off to work I would put my speakers on the window sill and open the window wide listening to Elton John and Kiki Dee singing "Don't go breaking my heart", Abba's "Dancing Queen" and my favourite Candi staton "Young hearts run free".... which we did. grin

TheMaggiejane1 Wed 18-Jan-17 13:30:36

I was heavily pregnant and feeling far too hot. The decision to make pastry for a pie for dinner was not a wise one. The butter kept melting on my fingers as I tried to rub it into the flour and when I tried to form it into a ball it just stuck to my palms no matter how much extra flour I used. I suddenly saw red and threw the mess across the kitchen in frustration. Once I'd calmed down of course I had to clear it all up which made me feel even hotter! I can't remember what we had for dinner that night.

mbody Wed 18-Jan-17 13:33:33

This was the first time we went abroad leaving standpipes being installed at home!!

hulahoop Wed 18-Jan-17 14:54:27

It was our first summer married we went to Isle of Man it was scorching here but overcast there TYPICAL!!

rosie154 Wed 18-Jan-17 15:13:34

Taking my GCEs and then having a nine week summer holiday. Visited Jersey for two weeks, which was glorious.

jt75 Wed 18-Jan-17 15:27:33

Sharing bathwater then using it to flush the loo and standpipes in the streets.

hartley123 Wed 18-Jan-17 15:27:59

INSECTS EVERYWHERE

pateci0 Wed 18-Jan-17 15:28:19

Long summer days grooving out in the park; grass turning brown; rivers getting covered in green; blue sky every day from May to August.

lizd31 Wed 18-Jan-17 15:40:48

I remember it very well. I was studying for my GCEs on a very hot day wearing a halter neck top, laying on my stomach, revising for hours as I lost track of time being the conscientious young girl that I was]. That night my back was red raw & blistered, I couldn't lay on my back for about 2 weeks & I had to keep a soft flanelette sheet bandaged around me. The same day my sister burnt her legs & had a huge blister the size of a tennis ball which got infected & had to be lanced.

rincey Wed 18-Jan-17 15:41:51

i remember having to help my mum go fill buckets of water from the stand pipes out on the street as we all had our water turned off as the reservoirs were so low ,but us kids still had fun splashing water at each other from the pipes to stay cool .

tw1nkle Wed 18-Jan-17 15:42:19

Summer holiday in Torquay and swarms of wasps.