These past 2 days have been 'uncomfortable' to say the least. Monday, I was scheduled to work a 4-hour shift. It was warm work. After 3.5 hours, I overheard the supervisor asking people if they wanted to leave early as orders were down. I jumped at that, and left as soon as my pick was completed. I'm not entirely sure why I was asked to come in, though 3.5 hours overtime was gratefully received. Driving home, I noted it was 27C, and this was before 10.30am.
Late afternoon we'd hit 37C in the shade in the front of the house. We have a thermometer that I placed outside in the sun, that only goes up to 40C. It went slightly over the 40C mark. Good grief! The garden is a suntrap mind you, with white walls and concrete slabs. That's way too hot for my liking. I didn't sleep too badly, despite the heat.
Tuesday, it was 30C before 10.30am and just kept getting hotter. We waterered the potted plants early, picked some blueberries, and got 2 loads of washing dried very early in the day. I walked over to town to get some paint for the kitchen, did a small amount of cleaning, then the rest of the day I just sat in my chair trying to keep cool by drinking plenty of water. On top of my usual amount of fluids, I drank 1.5 litres of water; that's a lot for me! The obvious result of that, and the heat, kept me awake and I had the worst night's sleep ever. The bedrooms didn't get below 30C which is awfully hot for trying to sleep.
Wednesday morning I was up very early and hit the shower. We've awoken to grey skies and a merciful breeze and it looks like rain. I have laundry to get dried, however I'm not complaining, just hoping this is over, for now at least.
If this type of weather becomes the norm, then UK houses, especially new-builds, will need to be updated to include mandatory insulation, and possibly ceiling fans/AC and bug screens. Mind you, with rising costs here, even if we had AC I doubt most of us could afford to use it!
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7 comments
Gracie said:
The fan is put right where the ceiling light is. If theres electricity, just replace the electrical box. Our house is 100 years old (i know the houses are mostly older there) and we added 4 ceiling fans. 1 room didn't have electric in the ceiling just outlets. So we used a long cord and hid it with decorative chain.. Insulation can be blown in right through the walls from outside and you can't tell they worked there. Its not (or wasn't) very expensive. The a/c can be those ductless units in the wall. Ive seen those used in very old homes throughout Europe. So the solutions are there. But saying that, hopefully the high heat is just a short fluke. Although more and more you get the odd summer day of 30. Some of this is expensive yes. But things like the screens and ceiling fans aren't. And the cost of electricity for the fans is no worse than a floor fan.
Bee Orchid said:
So much cooler this morning :)
StoneRoad2013 said:
It is also much cooler. We have a high ceiling in the main living room, which means the light fitting has room to include a fan, which has worked overtime for the past couple of days ! Luckily, the room itself is somewhat shaded by a rampant clematis.
Bug / fly screens sound like a good idea - if I recall correctly, you can get some "temporary" ones that cover windows without being screwed into place. The frames are extendable and hold themselves in place, a bit like a shower curtain rail.
I have some chores I need to do, so thinking about the logistics of that, my original plans will need amending as the grass is too wet after the shower earlier.
Bee Orchid said:
A rain shower sounds great. It's felt damp in the air on and off, though no rain as yet.
Elbertinum said:
Jenny McIntyre said:
Bee Orchid said:
Jenny - Thanks. Good to see you have some good insulation there. It's much more bearable today, and last night I actually slept almost 9 hours lol, I must have been exhausted from lack of sleep on the Tuesday. Temps are dropping nicely here, and we even had some light rain which the garden will like, more forecast Friday :)