Heatwave Recovery, taking care of yourself.

I remember when I was little and hunched up against the often bitter cold in our wee Scottish town, my mother would bark at me “Get your shoulders down !” convinced that if you didnt act cold, you would feel it less.
I am wondering now if I can apply that to the heat?
Instead of flopping around, moaning and getting ratty, today I did all the usual window/curtains/things but after my shower chose the freshest looking clothes I could find- clean, obviously, but cool coloured and “wafty”.
I’ve got lavender and “fresh linen” scented candles going and am trying to think cool thoughts .
Might “mind over matter” do the trick?
Obviously I have NO intention of doing anything faintly resembling housework and apart from watering the pots and borders at 6 when Rosie got me up, have no plans to do anything sweaty in the garden
I shall think serene thoughts, read a book, watch a bit of tennis and sip iced tea.
Let you know how I get on!

Thank you for your welcome back, you may soon be wishing I would post less! I dont know if any of you are finding another consequence of the hot weather. In a "normal" week there are usually set points such as doctors appointment or going to a club or meeting, and shopping. These also give a shape to the week as you work out how to get jobs done and fit things round to suit you.

So now I find that lack of incentive. Sensibly avoiding the hottest time of the day and avoiding airless rooms for things that I am not bothered to go to, also means that at the moment I have very little inspiration or plans to get going. My back is not good at the moment , so sadly havent been to visit any gardens yet, and of course unwittingly I am doing less moving about, so now I have instigated an exercise break, and try to make sure that I get up and walk about for at least 5 minutes every hour.

I think it is sods law that when I am in a busy "doing" mood I see lots of things that need doing and push them into the more crowded timetable, yet when I am in this state I either dont notice things or dont have the umph to do it. Awkward Annie, thats me! Well at least one good thing about living alone is there is no one to moan at me!!

I have always been a keen reader and reading even more at the moment as I have moaned on other posts about the lack of any decent plays or good programmes, where if you dont want to watch endless sport wall to wall there is only rubbish or ancient repeats of things. You would think a channel might realize that there are a whole audience who would like to have something else to watch. Well time for a walk round, and then put a cool flannel round my face and hands, and a wet my hair with cold water and pat dry. Keep cool and carry on is todays version of the slogan.

Grandmaofone Is it possible to move that fridge-freezer a bit further out from the wall, so that the heat can dissipate better? The flooding in the fridge sounds like it is struggling to keep it cold enough.

Good to see you again madeleine, I miss you!

Relieved to see you posting Madeleine45 🙋‍♀️

Good to see you posting madeleine45 you've been missed.

How lovely to see Madeleine again, and with expert advice. I see the forecast suggests rising temperatures by the end of the week and am not sure I can bear the thought but will make the most of today’s promised light showers - if they happen.

DS and DDiL arrived yesterday for a welcome brief visit and escape from London, great to see the .

Glad to see you back madeleine45

I have cancelled 2 appointments, Dentist and GP.
GP was just a routine annual Blood Test.
Dentist was a filling and and an extraction. No way could I have coped with that in this heat.😫

I lived abroad in places like Syria and Portugal, so old ways from there I find helpful and use here now. I keep all curtains shut during the day and also keep the windows shut too whilst the outside temperature is higher, until late in the evening when it has cooled down, then open curtains and if the temperature is cooler outside open windows. During the day also sit away from the windows as tends to be cooler even with the curtains shut.Do the least shopping etc and make any list and try to go out earliest possible. If walking anywhere go on shadiest side of the road always , and have very cold water bottle with me and a flannel that has been in cold water, squeezed out a little and put in plastic back, next to water. Flannel good for face neck and round wrists. In the house old hot water bottle can be filled with very cold water and a little ice then sitting you can put bare feet on it. Can also cool bed with it .At home very loose clothes and bare feet help I find. Also use wet cold flannel to go over hair and head, which is very cooling, and I am more interested in feeling cool than looking smart. Keeping kitchen and food clean and safe obviously important but anything else can wait, for cooler times. Wishing you all well

I spent this week helping my DD post surgery on her knee. Doing her housework and collecting her girls from their schools every day. I was really struggling by Thursday when we had our hottest day. I have 2 heart conditions which don't always like the heat. I promised myself this weekend would be given over to lolling about.

My husband is an Insulin dependent Diabetic and the heat has badly affected his sugar levels. So beware if you are in the same position, check your blood sugar more often.

DH is struggling with AF and can’t give more beta blockers because they slow circulation and can cause problems with regulating heat, causing dehydration. He also doesn’t feel the heat the same since having a subarachnoid bleed so caught him pottering about outside without a hat or sun cream in temps over 36 degrees. I had been having a shower.
To add to this I had a DD in hospital having a biopsy. Thankfully she is home now but her sister got stuck in Bristol because the trains stopped running so she couldn’t be there for her. We were there for her but had to get there on public transport which is really unreliable right now in London.
So we are both wiped. But we can’t sleep at night so we are exhausted night and day.
Have said this on another thread but if temps in the South rise to these extremes again we will pack our bags and rent an Airbnb in the UK where it is cooler.

Funnily enough, I have done a bit of night gardening and baked a cake. I haven't done any housework for a week!

It's my skin that needs to recover.
Having spent the last week in temperatures over 40 degrees, and being fair skinned, my face is like a beetroot, or a tomato. It will take a lot more than concealer, and I've left my roller ice balls back home. Then when it comes to my arms and legs, I've got several itchy red mozzie bites.

My back is not happy after inactivity because I’ve just lain around trying to conserve energy, not taken the dog out except for a short walk at 6am when it was still hot, and the garden has been a complete no no but now full of weeds. I must get going again but will be careful not to do too much at once.

me too, defrosting the little chest freezer
more ‘melange’ on the menu, found all sorts,

I turned up the cold of the chest freezer and fridge
freezer on Monday, noticed a big difference in the
electricity consumption on the monitor, so
turned them back down today.

The fridge is flooding, as though the hole at the back is
not allowing condensation to drain away.
Ive riddled it with the plastic thingy supplied to no avail.

Tomorrow if I’m up to it I will clean it inside
which I do regularly, sort it out,
give it a good riddling, its only
4 years old it shouldn’t be malfunctioning?

I did notice yesterday, ots a freestanding fridge freezer,
the terrific heat coming from the back, the space between
fridge and wall, so hoping it will behave a little longer.

Snap GrandmaofoneMackies ice cream and a nectarine just now.
Tonight chicken breast mayo sandwich and salad. And I've eaten several bags of salted crisps. I go with whatever I fancy. And as little cooking as poss.

I am defrosting the freezer this week, so lots of odd things to eat up

thank you for this advice, now I feel let off the hook somewhat

the temperature in the bedroom has dropped from 33 to 27 although there is not enough breeze to blow through and
clear the humidity and freshen the air

I do indeed feel depleted, no energy at all yet, totally ennervated.
I’m drinking water with slices of lime and lemon, don’t
even want to be bothered eating let alone cooking, hit the Mackies though, with soft fruit as though that somehow
makes up for all that fat and sugar.

I did cook a little chicken in the air fryer yesterday so that is
for dinner, now I am progressing to solid food ha ha

I had a craving for salt, ate a whole bag of salt and vinegar crisps, listened to my body, ignored my screaming waistline.

I hope everyone is ok, old folks, children, babies, pets.

Now only 26 weeks until Christmas

neatly segueing into -

YorkLady - cold turkey is the only way!

That doesnt sound great.

Not sure what foods would tempt you?

You have drank something I assume?

It is nearly 15.30 I and I haven't eaten anything, not even an ice ream!

I will be a shadow of my former self.

Taking it easier.
Come back from some days away, so out of routine anyway.

I was planning to go into town this morning but decided it was too hot, even though it is cooler than yesterday.
I need to get out of the house soon though.

Having eaten my body weight in ice-cream this week, I’m going to need a complete rethink of my diet 😩