The 'Let the British moan about the weather' thread

[Guest]

[Sharon]

Well I have held my tongue about this hideous weather for long enough and this is solely because it has been too hot to get on the Internet 

Anyone living in the south of England will know what I am talking about - IT IS TOO HOT    And even more annoying is that there is nothing anyone can do about it  .  We have been promised rain for two days now and nothing    It is not fair and to add insult to injury two of my cousins on opposite sides of Australia have been kind enough to tell us how cold it is there.  The one in Adelaide even pointed out that the frost was so thick it was like snow.  Snow!  The blissful thought of lovely, cold, crisp snow is almost too much to bear  :'(.

So anyone else suffering in this constant onslaught that we call summer please moan away here - it won't change anything but it will stop you annoying other people with your moans  .

[HPfamily]

I'm right there with you (actually I'm in the mid-west area of the US...  ...you know what I mean    )!! We have been soooo hot here too!!! We've been breaking records left and right!! And the humidity!!!!  We'll get a dribble (and I mean a tiny dribble if we're lucky) of rain, and we are tortured the next few days with unreal humidity!!! 

I can't wait for fall!! My favorite time of the year!! 

[EmmasOneandOnly]

Ya'll guys should pop over here to Florida, thunderstorms everyday in the afternoon

[Roz]

Yeah Mike we're not that brave... in the hurricane season anyway

Yeah it was 39 degrees here in Cambridge today, twice this summer now we've had rumbles of thunder without any rain (I've NEVER observed that before). It's not the temp though, it's the humidity... we'll get over it and soon be grumbling about the frost

[Sharon]

The main problem is that the UK is so woefully pathetic at being prepared, hence my reservations about winning the Olympics but that will be another thread in 2011 when I am saying told you so.

Our roads are melting, the railway lines are buckling and practically no where has air conditioning.  The bus I take to work in the morning (journey time approx 1 hour) has no fans, air con or windows to speak of - they are worried that some ickle kiddies will hurt themselves or others by throwing things out.  I dread to think what the underground is like, certainly not fit for transporting any live stock other than human beings.  They are threatening us with water standpipes at the end of the road whilst still allowing the local councils to water the flowers outside the Town Hall (us mere mortals who pay for these flowers are no longer allowed to water our own gardens).  

Actually I started off by saying there was nothing anyone can do to make things better.  I lie!  Red Ken can give us air conditioned buses, like the ones he has running where he lives in central London.  The Government can make it illegal for companies to make their employees work in temperatures over 100 degrees - in the UK there is a law about being too cold in an office but not too hot (this only applies to factories).  Tony Blair can start suing the contractors who laid the railway lines, knowing full well that in hot and cold weather they were unsafe.  And last but not least the water companies who made record profits again should start replacing the Victorian water pipes and stop the leaks.

Do I feel cooler?  No!  Do I feel better?  Yes    I shall probably waffle on in this thread until it cools down and then forget about it.  But never fear I will be back for the winter installment when we will have the wrong sort of rain to allow the trains to run, gritter lorries that can't grit because it is snowing, severe flooding due to the Government building on flood plains and me sitting at my keyboard in work wearing fingerless gloves, with a blanket over my knees.  But it will be cool    Roll on winter  

[HPfamily]

Ya'll guys should pop over her to Florida, thunderstorms everyday in the afternoon

BOOOO! HISSSSSS!     (JK)


But you are now entering hurricane season!!!   Let's hope   nothing serious this year!!!  

[Morningangel-Iola]

You know what is REALLY annoying the stupid people on the morning TV saying its going to be a 'another marvelous/lovely/beautiful day'

[Roz]

No windows on the bus Sharon? That's entirely INSANE - not even the small things in the top? Get some skates or something, don't sauna your way to work unless you can have a cool shower when you get there I was on the underground last weekend and it was ok, but I would take a bottle of water just in case if I were you

It sounds like I'm lucky - we installed air con in most places in the University here for the computers... or temperature controlling for the books, but my parents office doesn't have AC and they are all melting over there. Some of our more minor roads are loose, but the main and more modern roads are fine, so don't panic too much. I haven't heard about the train, I did a North to South journey last weekend on the trains without delays so it seems ok, although last year the rails were badly affected by the heat and we had to travel below 50 miles per hour along the tracks (normal speed limit is 90 mph) to the South Coast from London... so that was fun

Is that Thames Water Sharon? Kill them .. and kill them soon! Eejits!

It's just never really been worth having AC before so no-one's invested in it. Usually this kind of hot period only lasts for a couple of weeks, then we get a break and have mild early 20s temps for the rest of the summer. It starts about £250 for an AC for home so it's not expensive although the installation might be fun but the way I see it -  if it's only hot for a few weeks per year and the rest of the time it's comfortable - is it really worth keeping the stupid big thing in the house for the rest of the year?

P.S. Isn't it the "wrong sort of leaves" that prevent the trains from running in winter? I don't remember the rain thing

P.P.S You probably won't need to wait til winter for a flood - when that rain comes that we've been promised for ages it will probably have a little flood of it's own because the soil's a tad parched.

P.P.P.S It's very frustrating and very hot but compared to other places inhabited by other folks it's nothing, thanks to the Gulf stream we really have mild weather overall  even if we currently are the hottest place in Europe.

P.P.P.P.S - Go and do a rain dance

[Morningangel-Iola]

We have got a new water cooler at work and its almost out  I think we have got thought about 10 bottles. The shop is supposed to have air con, but spot it if you can. We have got fans going eveywhere. The basement is great if a little soggy, thats where all the sound easts water has gone  But the stock room upstairs is like hell without the flames  Its not good and we are only supposed to work up there for an hour at a time, or we melt. You lose more staff taht way.

[Sharon]

No windows on the bus Sharon? That's entirely INSANE - not even the small things in the top? Get some skates or something, don't sauna your way to work unless you can have a cool shower when you get there

On the London buses now there is a window about five inches high that slants out from the side that has stoppers at the end.  It is very hard to explain but the stopper prevents any air getting through.  On the top deck they have scrapped all of the windows at the front of the bus and now only have two on the sides, each about 3 feet long.  I cannot even describe how hot it is up there.  It would certainly be illegal to transport animals in that heat.  As for having a shower when I get to work    We can't even open most of our windows because they are stuck  .  ooh they did treat us to a new toilet seat last week though  

It's just never really been worth having AC before so no-one's invested in it. Usually this kind of hot period only lasts for a couple of weeks, then we get a break and have mild early 20s temps for the rest of the summer.

Roz every year we are told this is the hottest ever and we are in the middle of global warming.  Trust me siting at a computer for 8 hours a day is very uncomfortable even with temperatures only in the mid 20's.

P.S. Isn't it the "wrong sort of leaves" that prevent the trains from running in winter? I don't remember the rain thing

No the wrong sort of leaves was the year before last.  Last year the wrong sort of rain fell.  Apparently it was too cold as it came down and this made the tracks slippery.  My brothers in laws were up from Southampton on Wednesday and whilst the train was lovely and cool they were delayed by an hour due to speed restrictions and they heard the trains behind were going to be much worse.

If you have air con and cool places where you are Roz you are very fortunate.  When I go into shops over Romford and see the staff stuck behind tills practically passing out I do get cross that we have to go through this every year.  If the climate is changing then so must we.

[tialessa]

It's hard for me to remember that not everyone has Air Conditioning.  I don't even want to think how miserable I'd be without it here in Georgia.  We get that humid type heat for about 6 months...

I can't believe that the roads are melting!!!  That's horrible!  And no windows on busses is just ridiculous!  I bet the Underground is just miserable....

[Nienna]

We have got a new water cooler at work and its almost out  I think we have got thought about 10 bottles. The shop is supposed to have air con, but spot it if you can. We have got fans going eveywhere. The basement is great if a little soggy, thats where all the sound easts water has gone  But the stock room upstairs is like hell without the flames  Its not good and we are only supposed to work up there for an hour at a time, or we melt. You lose more staff taht way.

What!!? Do the staff melt away!?!
Sorry Dawn ... I couldn't resist ... 

Joking aside, it's a serious problem for many of us here in the UK because nobody seems to want to take the hot humid weather seriously even though everyone you see looks like they're ready to pass out.
I'm fortunate in that I walk to work ( the offie is another thing altogether though!  )  but driving Adam to school each day has been torture .... even early in the morning it's been roasting!
Much as I like to see the bright sunshine I find I just can't cope with the extremes of heat and humidity that so much of the UK is enduring at the moment.
I'm very much a temperate-zone babe me!

[Roz]

Everyone get on a boat, we're off to Svalbard. Or better yet... everyone go for a swim... hold on to the south coast and swim North

Oh and Jules you kill me - I was sitting here thinking...is Jules confessing something here?

I'm fortunate in that I walk to work ( the offie is another thing altogether though!  )

... the offie? ... the off license? Has the heat driven you to the drink? (yeah yeah I get it - the office )

it's a serious problem for many of us here in the UK because nobody seems to want to take the hot humid weather seriously

Spot on... we just can't quite believe it's going to be like this next year.. again Keep that upper lip stiff lass "air conditioning? we wouldn't dream of installing it in our homes... how wasteful of energy that would be"

Did you hear that they're passing a new law which means that all electronics goods sold in the UK will not have a 'standby' mode, because apparently 8% of our energy use is in products that are lying effectively dormant on standby. It sounds like a good move to me.

Sharon, thanks for the info, I took the Southampton (Weymouth) line last weekend, we were delayed for 10 mins (which left me 15 minutes to get from Waterloo to Kings Cross and find the right platform for my connecting train - which I made only by the skin of my teeth and by running)... I have to make the same journey again next week... so let's hope it's cooler/sorted/more organised. I'd forgotten the 'wrong type of rain' excuse... you know, I daresay that behind all these pathetic excuses there is some real science badly interpreted

[ferdinand_the_yak]

I wouldn't think you'd get such humid weather up north

Come here, it's been raining for seven days straight here and it's freezing! I'll swap you for a few days of heat!

[Morningangel-Iola]

You do and exchange trip with Sharon

[blackcat20]

Come here, it's been raining for seven days straight here and it's freezing! I'll swap you for a few days of heat!

Its cold down in Melbourne, but barely a drop of rain in sight. The only rain we had was last saturday, and I had to do the 8 hour drive home from Canberra in it 

Id give anything for a bit of warm weather right now, though mid 30s would be my max. Earlier this year I encountered a 47 degree day; there is nothing like it 

[Nienna]

Oh and Jules you kill me - I was sitting here thinking...is Jules confessing something here?


Quote
I'm fortunate in that I walk to work ( the offie is another thing altogether though!  )


... the offie? ... the off license?  Has the heat driven you to the drink?  (yeah yeah I get it - the office )



Quote
it's a serious problem for many of us here in the UK because nobody seems to want to take the hot humid weather seriously


Spot on... we just can't quite believe it's going to be like this next year.. again  Keep that upper lip stiff lass  "air conditioning? we wouldn't dream of installing it in our homes... how wasteful of energy that would be"

  argh my poor fingers must've slipped off the proper keys on the keyboard because of this infernal heat!
Yes ... I did mean to type 'office' as you rightly deduced. 

That's an interesting snippet about the standby mode being nixxed - I usually turn off appliances than leave them on standby mode and normally shout at the others to turn off lights etc when they've finished with them!

As for air conditioning .... I wouldn't rule out buying a unit altogether, we'll see. As you say, it's storing it when not in use that will be the major drawback to getting one I reckon.

We had a thunderstorm here last night and an amount of rain to go with it - I very much doubt it will have made any impact on the soil though as everwhere looks parched and the ground is starting to crack .... 
It's definitely the humidity which is causing all the discomfort ... I feel like I'm wading through a swamp .... 

[Roz]

Well I have to say it's been much better here since the great storm. How about you folks in Essex(shire) and Derbyshire? Hampshire's definitely cooler too

There's a good side to all this heat. I had to go to get an extra hole put in my belt yesterday because it was too big

I just don't feel like eating (don't worry I'm checking I'm not getting malnutritioned - the nectarines and strawberries are to die for at the mo

[Nienna]

Well it's seems to have cooled down to what it was ... we had a humungous thunderstorm and a LOT of rain yesterday afternoon which no doubt helped. 
The down side is it looks like the volume of water has caused the main sewer to block at the road next to our house (cos it washed down all manner of cr*p and is about to lift the manhole cover at the back of the house! *barf*  ), so Severn Trent are due out to give our drains a good rodding .... the delights of living in a Victorian terraced house .... good ole Victorian sewerage system to go with it! 

Other than that, it's nice to have a break from the searing heat.

[Roz]

Ooh have you had SO much rain Jules? Lucky ol' you! (or unlucky ol' you as the case might be  )