“Phew! What a scorcher”

The tabloid headline of my youth at the top of this article  used to  be rolled out when we had hot days. We used Fahrenheit then, a more sensitive and large scale way of judging the temperature. We all knew during summer that 70 degrees was pleasant day, 80 was a warm day and 90 was a hot day. As temperatures sometimes soared into the high 90s that was a too hot day. Nonetheless those with money opted to go to the south of Europe in search of the 100 degree fix for a holiday , equipped with sun tan lotion and often then a passion to lie out in the very hot sun. Today we call  those temperatures  21.2 Celsius, 26.67, 32.22 and 37.77 which are more  difficult to remember and not so clear in the message they send. Maybe we need to unite around 20,25,30 and 35 as benchmarks of how hot it is.

I remember those hot days when young. In August we went to stay with my grandparents who lived in Broadstairs. The long walk to the sea was worth it, and was downhill. On arrival the sand was sometime too hot to walk on in bare feet.  You needed to run to the wet sand for relief , or even better plunge into the water. The tarmac on the roads might be melting, and the rails were sometimes  bending as they faced the sun. It takes a  higher temperature than 100 degrees to do that, but the tarmac and the steel sitting beneath a relentless sun get far hotter than the air temperature used to measure the general warmth.

It is curious that some people complain about the hot days in the UK yet think it relaxing to go to a holiday location where it is that hot most of the time. When in Italy, Spain or Greece they might observe that government and people have adjusted to higher summer temperatures. Many eat outside, but always in the shade.  Shops, cars  and hotels are air conditioned. Many people have a long break in their working day when the sun is hottest, working into the evening as it cools a bit. The authorities ensure enough water is collected and stored to see them through a long summer with little rain. Evening meals are much later than in the UK. People do not lie around in the hottest sun, and protect themselves from sunburn. Large hats are common. The sombrero is part of the armour against the weather.

If we are to have more of the very hot days in the years ahead as some forecast it reinforces the case I have been making for more reservoirs. It also implies we need to install more air conditioning, as they have in the US. What is clear is even if the UK stopped burning all fossil fuels, importing everything that needs such  energy instead, it would not reduce world CO 2 let alone suddenly cool us all off.