Heat?

It's easy to forget how very uncomfortable it could get in Essex during the summer.

Days when temperatures rose well into the seventies , eighties and occasionally the nineties meant that we had all invested in fan coolers to try to keep one room cool..

My huge golden retriever found it very hard but I resisted having him trimmed having seen another one almost shaved...the golden coat is part of a goldens glory!

We lived close to a river so three times a day I took him for a swim instead!

On one of the hottest weeks the first David and me and our dog went to stay in a lovely hotel in the Peak District which had its own thermal pool. As the temperatures rose into the eighties and nineties the entire clientele stood in the pool as people died in various places from the heat.

We were booked out at the end of the week. David had to go back to work after the weekend so there was no choice...we had to go!

We spent the day by a river, sitting in the shade waiting for the sun to go down...

The drive from Derbyshire to Essex was hell on earth. Our car had no air conditioning and with all the windows open we were blasted by hot air as we travelled.

The service stations were filled with people seeking some sort of relief. I sat on some grass in the shade with the poor dog, panting heavily and clearly in distress. A lorry arriving stank! It clearly held meat and had no cooler and it dripped blood and very smelly goo which covered the ground around it.

On the radio we heard of people dying from extreme heat and were relieved to reach home reasonably ok.

I look back to that time with horror...

Here in Cornwall although it gets hot it is never a suffocating heat. Up on my perch on the cliff tops there is always a small breeze and the sea isn't far away!

But I hope those living through very high temperatures can stay safe and comfortable....in hot climates around the world they have made sure their homes and hotels are cooled...but the infrequency of this sort of weather here means we are often not well prepared for it!

Far from basking in the sunshine I shall be under my big hat staying as cool as possible...God willing!

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