EXTREME WEATHER WARNING

well, bully for you.

that was to the smug know-it-alls.
you may indeed know it all. and be hale and hearty.
don't diss the rest of us.

In India, when it gets very hot at 35-40+ and there is no A/C people actually put a wet sheet on the bed and sleep with very little on. The water vapour that rises keeps you cool. It works, I've done it!! Not advisable in this country if you don't want to spoil your mattress! They have a different thing in India.

I have a very lightweight duvet... or just sleep with a sheet and nothing else.
And of course a fan helps if you can handle the whirring noise.

welbeck

well, bully for you.

I can't help the weather!!

Sago

Seriously! Has nobody experienced heat abroad or hot UK weather before?
I would assume that anyone with the ability to post on a forum would know what to do in hot weather.

What is being predicted is much hotter than what has happened previously.

I have the ability to post on a forum, I am unsure what I should do if the unprecedented hot weather happens. I am very concerned.

I do not know your reasoning as to why you assume that anyone with the ability to post on a forum would know what to do in hot weather.

StarDreamer

karmalady wrote Bear in mind that as we age, we do not get thirsty until we are very dehydrated ...

I did not know that. Thank you for posting that information. As a result I have just now had a drink of about 250 millilitres of water even though I am not feeling thirsty.

I find it helpful to have a bottle of water next to my chair or bed all the time in hot weather. I can then sip from it frequently without having to get up to go to the kitchen for a glass of water. It’s surprising how often I drink 500ml without really noticing.

I just refill a drinking bottle from the tap, I don’t buy bottled water.

I suggested this idea to a friend who was struggling to drink enough fluids during her cancer treatment and she found it really helpful.

No, StarDreamer, you’re exaggerating, what is being predicted is not much hotter than what has happened previously, the peak on one or two days MIGHT be slightly hotter than the previous record, but it’s not predicted to be a sustained period of very high temperatures. Here’s a comparison with 1976.
www.itv.com/news/2022-07-12/how-does-the-current-heatwave-compare-to-the-scorching-summer-of-1976

I spent part of my childhood living in Hong Kong/Singapore/Malaysia. I am treating this current short burst of hot weather the way i did in 1976 and how we did in my childhood.

Get up early, do anything requiring physical effort between 6.00-9.00am, then stay indoors with windows open and curtains drawn until the worst of the heat is over - 5.00 or 6.00pm and then get moving again.

have a cold bath or shower if it gets too unbearable and then just let it happen.

If you live in the kind of tiny stuffy unwindowed houses that are now built everywhere, get a water spay and watering can and damp everything; curtains, flooring, damp sheets across doors.

that's not the point.
leave StarDreamer alone.
this is a forum for anyone to discuss what they are concerned about.
if you don't need want it, pass on by.
hot weather is a real danger. many warnings from reputable agencies. they see the casualties.

In 1976 the heatwave went on for months without a break. A Minister for Drought was appointed.

Two days of heat now and it is described as 'a heatwave' in the media.
The 'heatwave' the other week lasted for a day, ie it was a hot day.

I do have a couple of pretty old-fashioned fans bought in Spain that I must find.

Those small handheld battery operated fans are useful for cooling your face and head, StarDreamer
www.amazon.co.uk/Bestland-Handheld-Portable-Cooling-Operated-Blue/dp/B01F5KCK9S/ref=asc_df_B01F5KCK9S/?hvlocphy=1007420&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&hvnetw=g&hvadid=344357747183&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=gransnetforum-21&hvtargid=pla-697283210306&hvrand=7917613452853424022

Other makes, prices and retailers available.

Oh!

LINK > www.itv.com/news/2022-07-12/what-is-a-level-4-heat-health-warning-and-could-there-be-a-national-emergency

www.gov.uk/government/publications/heatwave-plan-for-england/looking-after-children-and-those-in-early-years-settings-during-heatwaves-for-teachers-and-professionals

Useful information in here for those of us with small children to look after.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/ultraviolet-radiation-uvr-clothing-protection/ultraviolet-radiation-uvr-clothing-protection

Interesting reading about the sun protection provided by clothing.

Yes the summer of 1976 was hot.

I was much younger then than I am now.

I wouldn’t lie on a bed all day StarDreamer you need to move for your circulation. I would not be overly worried about the scary headlines, keep your house as cool as you can, keep your fluids up, light meals and wear comfortable clothing, less clothing if that’s your comfort.

welbeck

that's not the point.
leave StarDreamer alone.
this is a forum for anyone to discuss what they are concerned about.
if you don't need want it, pass on by.
hot weather is a real danger. many warnings from reputable agencies. they see the casualties.

I have no problem at all with anybody expressing concerns about the impact of hot weather on them personally welbeck. Passing on tips for other people who may be affected is of course fine too, and there are several threads running now about that. What’s not called for is sensationalising the forecast. The media has a lot to answer for, and there’s absolutely no need for posters on Gransnet to perpetuate the myths and exaggerations.

StarDreamer

Yes the summer of 1976 was hot.

I was much younger then than I am now.

We all were!

Post what you want to, stardreamer.
It's nobody's place to tell you what you may or may not.

In a weeks time there will be reports of dogs that have died in cars and people will have drowned swimming to cool off. I think people need to be constantly reminded about these things when we have a heatwave. As a first time mother I put my new baby outside in her pram on a hot day fully clothed and covered in a blanket because I knew nothing about babies and thought they had to be covered up all the time. Thankfully the midwife came round and said what on earth are you doing? I still shudder to think of what might have happened. I know, in retrospect I should have known not to do it but I was quite academic but not very practical and I’d had no experience of babies at all.

but I was quite academic but not very practical and I’d had no experience of babies at all.
Surely being academic doesn't prevent someone from having common sense?

I do remember a poor little not very bright Mum who used to bring her children into a CGC where we advised her the baby needed a sunhat in the hot weather. Baby was wearing a knitted bonnet. The next time she came baby was wearing a sunhat on top of the knitted bonnet.

Callistemon21

StarDreamer

Yes the summer of 1976 was hot.

I was much younger then than I am now.

We all were!

46 years younger to be precise!

That's a sobering thought!
Time really does fly!

I can remember when it started too ? as I was in the maternity home and we were all thinking that we were missing the lovely sunny weather

I can't even remember the year right.
I blame Elvis Presley.

In 1976 the heatwave went on for months without a break. A Minister for Drought was appointed Very different from a few days this week and possibly next.
We were on holiday in Herefordshire that year and came back to London on the August BH Monday. Of course we had had no thoughts of waterproof or cooler weather clothes and we were drenched , soaked to the skin by the time we got home ☔️☔️
(My recollection is that that was almost as soon as the Minister for Drought was appointed, that the weather broke!)
Following this train of thought, maybe we need Ministers for Energy Prices, for Fuel Prices, and for rising supermarket prices.
That would sort it!