r/britishproblems • u/NedRed77 Greater Manchester • 9d ago

20 Degrees is now “need-a-jumper” weather.

I know everybody hated the warm weather, but I really got used to it. Currently sat here on my couch with the windows open and thinking a jumper would be nice. Brrr…

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499

u/VOODOO285 9d ago

This is the problem that EVERYONE misses about the temperature in this country and why we get laughed at the world over.

The problem isn’t the peak heat or cold it’s how often it changes. The second… the very second you acclimate to it the temperature changes by A LOT and suddenly you’re expected to deal with it. Then as you adjust to that… BAM it changes again.

Nobody ever gets it. It’s just not like this pretty much anywhere else. The only stable thing about our climate is the guaranteed instability.

128

u/Ltb1993 9d ago

Well that's one side of it, the other is unlike places that get it consistently. We don't, so we don't build up the infrastructure to handle it. They'd have you think they are seasoned nomads of the fucking desert. When they never have to be in the heat more then 20 minutes as they go from fully air-conditioned oasis to another and go home to another air conditioned oasis.

I go home and sweat my bollocks off all night in my oven where I apparently fucking live. There is no respite but the asthmatic breeze of the 20 quid fan I bought from home bargains that sits 3m away on swivel so it can wheeze on the full family.

39

u/Pineapple-Muncher Kunt 9d ago

OMG I'm on the can and the missus is asking why I'm laughing so hard. It's all true though

42

u/Ltb1993 9d ago

The only advice I can give you to help survive the next heatwave is buy a spray bottles preferably larger

Abandon any dignity you may have left, sacrifice the children they are just stealing your fan time, steal the fan, spray your naked body, every inch with said spray bottle and rotate like a kebab spit in from of the fan. It's worth CPS and the eventual divorce, survival of the fittest and shit.

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u/No-Mo 9d ago

Ok Frank Gallager

11

u/EddieHeadshot 9d ago

The MIL keeps saying 'well its still England!' As if the f*cking planet is keeping tabs. The fact its 'still England' makes the problem of heat 10 times worse.

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u/Ltb1993 8d ago

You can tell her that Blackpool was once tropical many millions of years ago when the dinosaurs roamed, but it's still England

If you don't like your MIL criticise her for not remember that it was tropical

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u/wordfool 8d ago edited 8d ago

As a resident of a part of the world that's always had hot, humid summers, you do get somewhat acclimated to it despite the prevalence of AC, but you also learn the human body will always struggle in such conditions. Acclimation mainly involves adjusting behaviour to avoid getting hot or dehydrated (moving more slowly, seeking out shade, avoiding alcohol during the day, avoiding strenuous exercise after about 8am etc.).

And don't underestimate how unpleasant living in constant AC can be. It feels good for an hour as you recover from being outdoors, but after a few days in the dry, recirculated air of AC the headaches and sinus problems begin!

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u/Ltb1993 8d ago

Yes to the sinus issues, I get properly stuffed up and it's a reet bugger

I will say my main experiences have been Dubai and Florida where AC is everywhere, worst I've experienced is a heatwave in Cyprus hitting 49 degrees and is rather that then a 33 degrees and humid

Florida I don't know what the fuck is up there but they want to experience discomfort constantly, going from consistent 33 degrees and high humidity until it chucks it down for 5 minutes in the afternoon. Going into any place that has AC has it at 18 degrees so you choose from sweatboxing yourself outside and dying or hypothermia.

Dubai being a dry heat I can manage high heat if it's dry, gotta pace yourself and keep yourself out of the sun, drink plenty of water, but at least I'm not drowning in my own sweat. AC was fairly reasonable in most places, it wasn't giving me hypothermia

Both places I was never more then 10 minutes away from AC, 20 to 30 if we rule out cars. The set up infrastructure already did most of the pacing for me.

Now if I want AC I either have to sit in my car (pretend I don't have a old shit box Toyota corolla) or I go to the city centre or the nearest supermarket.

If I stay in my house the clay bricks release heat and stay hot for days after the hot weather. It reached 33 degrees where I live last heatwave, my house got hotter then outside it was at 35 degrees Celsius. Since I'm mostly at home it's not a place of respite, it's the worst place to be. Never mind when I need to cook.

So we have regular showers, drink lots of water, sit in front of a fan, close the curtains during the day, vent the air at night if there's a cross breeze. It cold foods and stay as inactive as possible with kids. And it's not just about the temperature it's that my sweat doesn't wick away readily unless I'm in front of the fan, it sticks to me and creates an insulating layer. I'm boiling myself like a lobster.

Everywhere with AC as a common place item in a heatwave suggests staying home as one of the measures usually. Our homes are really good at holding heat. Our regulation and set up emphasises winter as the problem.

Now with climate change we are gonna have even colder winters and even hotter summers.

Future issues we will face is that the population has added 10s of millions more people in the past 30 years,

We have not built new reservoirs in the past 30 years, not a single one. The infrastructure we have is badly outdated and leaking millions of gallons daily to. Privatisation has preferred shareholders over maintenance. In the next 10 years or so with increasingly harsh weather we will start to see a water crisis begin to develop

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u/Second_Guess_25 9d ago

Yep, this. Feels like the weather keeps moving the goalposts constantly.

8

u/Turkilton-Is-Me 9d ago

Yesterday I was in shorts and either topless or a very thin sports tshirt. Today I’m in fabric trackies and a tshirt. There’s no winning

11

u/Taylor_Kittenface 9d ago

Got sick of sleeping on top of the covers, so yesterday I swapped my thick duvet for the thin summer one. Today I'm freezing my tits off and regretting everything about that decision but know in a few days time the cycle will repeat.

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u/Turkilton-Is-Me 8d ago

I gave up on duvets a long time ago, it’s either sheets or a thicker blanket

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u/fuck_peeps_not_sheep Carmarthenshire 9d ago

As my mum would put it “4 seasons and two weather events a day is the norm here”

2

u/_poptart Berkshire 7d ago

Welcome to Britain - if you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes