England, and from what I hear, Europe, is undergoing a heatwave.
Temperatures in the UK are around 30°C. Where I am it’s gonna hit 32°C in the next couple of hours.
To you Americans, you Australians, that’s nothing. It’s a mild day, we’re weak, whatever, I’ve heard it all, the thing is, WE AREN’T EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH THIS.
The average temperature in the UK in July is 17°C. It is in the 30’s today. We simply are not used to it. We are used to rain and sleet and hail and wind, not heat. And our heat is a damp heat. A humid heat.
Because of all the sea around us we have an extremely humid climate if it gets warm. The air literally feels heavy right now. I am struggling to cool down because the humidity is fucking with my sweat, and as a trans man, the high amounts of water in the air, combined with my binder make it difficult to breathe, and I assume a lot of asthmatic people have a similar problem.
When temperatures in the UK are like this, people die. Don’t laugh about it. It is serious. It may not seem like much to you, it may not seem warm to you, but in a similar heatwave in 2013, 760 people died.
Our infrastructure is not built to cope with this. The house I live in, for instance, was built when the Thames still used to freeze over. It was built to be warm. The walls are thick, the windows are small, some rooms don’t even have windows that open, it was built with no though to air circulation, and this is one of the most common types of home in the UK. The UK government subsidises insulation. People fill every gap in their home with stuff that will keep the heat in. And nobody – literally nobody – has aircon. A lot of businesses don’t even have it. We have no use for it 99.9% of the time. Hell, I don’t even own a desk fan or even a hand held fan.
It is very different here to where you are. And we are used to and equipped for very different things. Instead of laughing, teach us how to stay cool. Instead of making jokes or quips, make info posts, and things that will help us.
Remember, this may be an average day to you, but to us it’s a heatwave. We cannot cope. And for some, particularly children and the elderly, it’s literally a matter of life and death.
Repeating this cause there’s another heatwave going on in Europe at the moment. This is reality for us.
This is really true as a Texan who studied abroad in London. I was expecting cool weather but when I got off the plane it was actually a horrible heatwave, and had the hottest day in years. It’s awful because in Texas we have AC and it’s 100 degrees outside but it can easily be 60 inside. In London it would be like 80 degrees but with no AC and no way to ever cook down you’re guzzling water inside and taking a cold shower every so often and it’s horrible. You go outside and walk around in the heat or take public transport that is even hotter than outside bc it has no AC either and there’s ppl crammed together (the tube was the WORST). My Texan roomie and I wimped out and bought an over priced fan just bc it was so hard to sleep at night and we were showering literally like 5 times a day.
GUYS, I just learned about the heat index which calcualtes heat with relation to humidity and all that (because the more humid it is the hotter it feels), so I’mma break down how hot it is here:
In the part of England I’m in now, the temp is 33C or 91F and the humidity is 49%
That’s 41C according to the heat index, or 105.8F
It’s 105.8. We don’t have any fans or air con. I’m melting.
EAT AND REPLENISH YOUR ELECTROLYTES!!!
I work at an outdoor festival in the Virginian summer, which is also hot and humid and lacking shade. You obviously need to drink a lot, but you are sweating out salts that you ABSOLUTELY need to replace. Pickles, olives, Gatorade, pretzels, cheese, whatever you want that will replace those electrolytes and help your body hang on to the fluids you’re putting in it!
ADDITIONALLY! Ice packs are your friend. Apply them near major arteries (inner thighs, under your left armpit, etc.) for maximum efficiency. Warning signs that someone is in a bad way include: stopping sweating, going pale and clammy. When in doubt, sit someone down, get them ice, get them eating and drinking.
what i do is not up to you 