Imagine the migrant crisis when those in the Southern hemisphere start escaping North because of heat. We’ll have to send all the deniers South to keep the planet on its axis!
I remember the summer of 1976 all too well… I was a 1st year student nurse working at Copthorne hospital in Shrewsbury, the wards of which were a series of wooden huts branching off a central corridor whose only idea of cooling boiled down to some strategically placed fans around each ward. It was bad enough for us young, fit and healthy nurses but those poor patients suffered horrendously!
Given all of that, however, I would gladly go back to that summer because, as you so rightly pointed out, it was an exception not the rule. I also recall the summer of 1987 (primarily because my dad died the previous December) which turned out to be another exception because it rained virtually every day of that summer, but nobody ever harks back to that one…
So much THIS, Bear. Multiple fans in every room, going through bottles of water like we are in the Sahara, cats commuting between cool patches in the garden and tiles in the sunroom. I can't imagine how awful ir must be travelling on the Underground right now.
I wasn't here in 1976, but I have been living in the UK half my life. I remember wearing a coat in April, and giving up trying to grow tomatoes because it was just too cold. Just said to the husband - the first moron that says climate change is a hoax get a smack in the mouth (not that I woud ever hit anybody, you understand. Just fed up with the general stupidity out there.).
I was doing my GCEs in 1976 and the remarkable thing for me was how hot it was in Northumberand - for months, every day and with no rain!! When I started working I had to catch the first bus 06.10 and it was Freeeeeeezing at that time of the morning but boiling by 08.00. Folks in the office thought I was mad having a duffel coat with me!!
It sure makes Scotland look more attractive weather wise. It's always been a beautiful place but now has the added attraction of not being a frying pan.
Coming from a similar place weather wise, this line made me chuckle "I came to Britain expecting drizzle, cardigans, and seasonal affective disorder."
Even back home the heatwaves are starting earlier and in the past couple of years the voice notes from my mum about how hot it is (close to 40) start in May, sometimes even late April. And she still has June, July and August to get through.
Growing up we would feel the temperatures rise in mid June, with the odd heatwave hitting us somewhere between mid July and mid August. Now summer back home in Spain feels like living inside of an open-air furnace working at full capacity May to September.
And yet people also say we've always had hot summers. True, but temperatures rarely reached 40 so often and summer was a well-defined event that lasted 3 months, not half of the year.
I've lived almost two decades in London and I really missed not having a proper summer for about 13 of those as, with any luck, there'll be a week when we'll hit 26 and that'll be it until next year. Not any more.
Not sure what additional evidence we need to provide for climate change deniers to understand the impact this already has in crops and the humanitarian emergency that we may be dealing with soon if governments don't take this seriously. At a time like this, to read about even more data centres being opened (with the amount of water they consumed) should make everyone wonder who this benefits.
76, I was 8yrs old 😉😳 in a caravan in North Wales ..with 3 siblings a hot tempered mother with a slightly daft father ..my elder brother & I had been forced to sleep in the car, where it was just has hot but the caravan my word it was awful ! The cabinets were dripping down the ironcast wall that was slowly been suffocated by the heat from outside that seeped through every crack & crevice that wasnt sealed up, even that was tacky to touch Keep ya hands to yourself mother shouts we have to pay for any damages caused ..Slime was invented way back in 76,tacky silicone 😁 anyway the caravan was a nytmare so father decides we must live in the river for the next few days Brilliant idea until the fish decide to join us hundreds of them 🤣🤣🤣 yes i remember 76 a holiday from hell literally; the weather has gone down hill ever since whereby at 58 I can't muster up the strength to force the atmosphere of me so I can get off the couch pinned down by the air is rather bizarre 😀 Climate Change is very real those who say otherwise are just bloody daft !
Yes, ‘76 was real, I was a young woman then, but this is worse. Our greed and lack of respect for the planet has caught up with us. I lived in the Middle East for six years but never got used to the intense sunlight and heat. However, it was much easier to function there because of good air conditioning, particularly as it allowed you to sleep well at night.
I came to Devon from London in September 76. All the fields and verges were white. Trees died. It started to rain as we were in the bus station and everyone went out and stood in it. The road flooded within minutes. It didn’t stop raining until March.
The last two years I’ve seen a repeat of that. Some grassland disappeared altogether and there were spontaneous fires, some very serious with lasting consequences for wildlife. Trees struggle and we have many that are hundreds of years old.
This is the second patch of scorchio this year. It’s beach before breakfast and woodland after supper.. if we feel like eating.. that’s my lurcher and me. The rest of the time we are stuck in. Pavements too hot to walk on. The house is relatively cool but my reaction seems to be headaches, mild nausea and puffy ankles and fingers. I am incredibly glad I am not working but although the sunshine is beautiful it’s hard to negotiate and the whole thing is obviously unsustainable especially for farming.
Dearest Bear 🐻❤️ Deepest sympathy 🤗 But trust me, *elderly* and 5' 2.5 inches isn't any easier! And sadly, I get hives too! Horrid lumpy, hot, itchy swellings, everywhere! We now have a little flat in Spain, yep, we're really lucky, and I love it, but we come back to the UK because I can't tolerate the summer heat there! Hives really are dreadful and ugly! I worked in the tourist gift shop at the Penta Hotel on Cromwell Road in 1976! While *resting* as an actress! 😎 I remember it very well 😱 Xx ps I wish we'd stop calling it 'Climate Change'! It isn't! It's most definitely 'Climate Chaos'! 😔
I went to a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing yesterday . Very very scary what lies ahead if this government doesn’t act now. Shortage of food and water .
Oh Bear. You must be feeling the heat so badly that you've lost a year whilst writing! Lol. Witty piece as well as spot on. I remember 1976 well. My sister developed hay-fever and melted in the south facing school hall while taking her o'levels! It was hot, but it's far worse now. I can't help but wonder whether having so many wars raging around the world is adding to the ever expanding climate crisis too. If you need me, I will be at home with all curtains drawn against the heat 🥵. Stay cool and position cooling fans on your fur demons please all🙏 x
Imagine the migrant crisis when those in the Southern hemisphere start escaping North because of heat. We’ll have to send all the deniers South to keep the planet on its axis!
I remember the summer of 1976 all too well… I was a 1st year student nurse working at Copthorne hospital in Shrewsbury, the wards of which were a series of wooden huts branching off a central corridor whose only idea of cooling boiled down to some strategically placed fans around each ward. It was bad enough for us young, fit and healthy nurses but those poor patients suffered horrendously!
Given all of that, however, I would gladly go back to that summer because, as you so rightly pointed out, it was an exception not the rule. I also recall the summer of 1987 (primarily because my dad died the previous December) which turned out to be another exception because it rained virtually every day of that summer, but nobody ever harks back to that one…
So much THIS, Bear. Multiple fans in every room, going through bottles of water like we are in the Sahara, cats commuting between cool patches in the garden and tiles in the sunroom. I can't imagine how awful ir must be travelling on the Underground right now.
I wasn't here in 1976, but I have been living in the UK half my life. I remember wearing a coat in April, and giving up trying to grow tomatoes because it was just too cold. Just said to the husband - the first moron that says climate change is a hoax get a smack in the mouth (not that I woud ever hit anybody, you understand. Just fed up with the general stupidity out there.).
I was doing my GCEs in 1976 and the remarkable thing for me was how hot it was in Northumberand - for months, every day and with no rain!! When I started working I had to catch the first bus 06.10 and it was Freeeeeeezing at that time of the morning but boiling by 08.00. Folks in the office thought I was mad having a duffel coat with me!!
It sure makes Scotland look more attractive weather wise. It's always been a beautiful place but now has the added attraction of not being a frying pan.
Coming from a similar place weather wise, this line made me chuckle "I came to Britain expecting drizzle, cardigans, and seasonal affective disorder."
Even back home the heatwaves are starting earlier and in the past couple of years the voice notes from my mum about how hot it is (close to 40) start in May, sometimes even late April. And she still has June, July and August to get through.
Growing up we would feel the temperatures rise in mid June, with the odd heatwave hitting us somewhere between mid July and mid August. Now summer back home in Spain feels like living inside of an open-air furnace working at full capacity May to September.
And yet people also say we've always had hot summers. True, but temperatures rarely reached 40 so often and summer was a well-defined event that lasted 3 months, not half of the year.
I've lived almost two decades in London and I really missed not having a proper summer for about 13 of those as, with any luck, there'll be a week when we'll hit 26 and that'll be it until next year. Not any more.
Not sure what additional evidence we need to provide for climate change deniers to understand the impact this already has in crops and the humanitarian emergency that we may be dealing with soon if governments don't take this seriously. At a time like this, to read about even more data centres being opened (with the amount of water they consumed) should make everyone wonder who this benefits.
76, I was 8yrs old 😉😳 in a caravan in North Wales ..with 3 siblings a hot tempered mother with a slightly daft father ..my elder brother & I had been forced to sleep in the car, where it was just has hot but the caravan my word it was awful ! The cabinets were dripping down the ironcast wall that was slowly been suffocated by the heat from outside that seeped through every crack & crevice that wasnt sealed up, even that was tacky to touch Keep ya hands to yourself mother shouts we have to pay for any damages caused ..Slime was invented way back in 76,tacky silicone 😁 anyway the caravan was a nytmare so father decides we must live in the river for the next few days Brilliant idea until the fish decide to join us hundreds of them 🤣🤣🤣 yes i remember 76 a holiday from hell literally; the weather has gone down hill ever since whereby at 58 I can't muster up the strength to force the atmosphere of me so I can get off the couch pinned down by the air is rather bizarre 😀 Climate Change is very real those who say otherwise are just bloody daft !
Brilliantly foreboding
Yes, ‘76 was real, I was a young woman then, but this is worse. Our greed and lack of respect for the planet has caught up with us. I lived in the Middle East for six years but never got used to the intense sunlight and heat. However, it was much easier to function there because of good air conditioning, particularly as it allowed you to sleep well at night.
Very good article: sober and undeniable.
We are very “short-term” in our thinking as species it would seem.
I came to Devon from London in September 76. All the fields and verges were white. Trees died. It started to rain as we were in the bus station and everyone went out and stood in it. The road flooded within minutes. It didn’t stop raining until March.
The last two years I’ve seen a repeat of that. Some grassland disappeared altogether and there were spontaneous fires, some very serious with lasting consequences for wildlife. Trees struggle and we have many that are hundreds of years old.
This is the second patch of scorchio this year. It’s beach before breakfast and woodland after supper.. if we feel like eating.. that’s my lurcher and me. The rest of the time we are stuck in. Pavements too hot to walk on. The house is relatively cool but my reaction seems to be headaches, mild nausea and puffy ankles and fingers. I am incredibly glad I am not working but although the sunshine is beautiful it’s hard to negotiate and the whole thing is obviously unsustainable especially for farming.
Dearest Bear 🐻❤️ Deepest sympathy 🤗 But trust me, *elderly* and 5' 2.5 inches isn't any easier! And sadly, I get hives too! Horrid lumpy, hot, itchy swellings, everywhere! We now have a little flat in Spain, yep, we're really lucky, and I love it, but we come back to the UK because I can't tolerate the summer heat there! Hives really are dreadful and ugly! I worked in the tourist gift shop at the Penta Hotel on Cromwell Road in 1976! While *resting* as an actress! 😎 I remember it very well 😱 Xx ps I wish we'd stop calling it 'Climate Change'! It isn't! It's most definitely 'Climate Chaos'! 😔
I went to a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing yesterday . Very very scary what lies ahead if this government doesn’t act now. Shortage of food and water .
Oh Bear. You must be feeling the heat so badly that you've lost a year whilst writing! Lol. Witty piece as well as spot on. I remember 1976 well. My sister developed hay-fever and melted in the south facing school hall while taking her o'levels! It was hot, but it's far worse now. I can't help but wonder whether having so many wars raging around the world is adding to the ever expanding climate crisis too. If you need me, I will be at home with all curtains drawn against the heat 🥵. Stay cool and position cooling fans on your fur demons please all🙏 x