Now this brings back memories!
At the age of fourteen I just took it all in my stride. We did the usual stuff, went fishing, hung around Regents Park in Central London, didn’t really bat an eyelid.
There were no standpipes in the west end… unlike less well developed parts of the country
And those bloody ladybirds, they got everywhere! The little blighters even found their way into a couple of my Shiphams meatpaste sandwiches while holidaying on the beach with my family in Winchelsea
I can’t believe it actually went on for ten weeks!
The last few days has been more than enough thank you
I was 31. The last job of the day done, then take the shirt off and drive home. The day it started to rain was such a shock. This heatwave nowhere near compares to the one in 1976. In 1976, a lake near us dried up completely. So did the canal in many parts. That hasn’t happened this time and that would be a good indicator that this heatwave isn’t as bad as 1976.
True Mart, I’m still struggling to get my head around the fact that it lasted ten weeks!
I was telling my son about it today and he suggested that it must have been really tough. I don’t remember it being the least bit tough. I suppose generally speaking you can get away with that sort it thing when you’re in your early teens!
I don’t remember the 1976 heatwave, I was only 9 years old so I wouldn’t have noticed it much, but my parents often refer to it when having conversations about hottest years. In Italy, one of our hottest, most humid, long Summers, was in 2003, when the temperatures were constantly around 40c, from the beginning of June right until end of September, with no rain.
On the other hand, in recent years, we’ve been having shorter, cooler, rainier Summers, but this year seems to be finally (don’t wanna speak too soon ) more or less, our normal Mediterranean Summer, although it arrived all of a sudden, from jackets to t-shirts, no Spring.
Grief Rose!
It must have been hard work coping with a situation like that! Was water rationed in any way, don’t you live up in the hills?
I dread to think what would happen if we had a a repeat of the 1976 drought now. The density of population must have increased massively since then! It’s a bit early in the morning for statistics, I’m only on my first coffee but I’ll have to check out some facts and figures later.
Yes, it was really unbearable, many rivers dried up, wells dried up too, many agricultural disasters,many victims. It was the extremely high humidity that made it feel so oppressive, there wasn’t actually any need for water rationing, but we were advised strongly not to waste.
I remember we went on a family holiday up in the Alps, to get some cooler, fresher air, but when we got up there (over 2,500m) it was 30C!
I think this extra long, intense heatwave hit many European countries at the time. 2022 nearly reached that record, but I personally, will never forget 2003.
,
Heatwaves are bad for older geezers, take 76, in 1976 a young bloke would have had a full head of hair, enough to repel the UV, it is likely that that same guy in 2025 would be pretty much slap now with no natural UV protection, as such, any comparisons not like for like
) more or less, our normal Mediterranean Summer, although it arrived all of a sudden, from jackets to t-shirts, no Spring. 
