We all knew the heat wave was coming here in the UK; we were warned temperatures would reach up to 36 degrees Celsius (about 96 degrees Fahrenheit).
But it wasn’t until the heat actually hit on Tuesday, getting worse throughout Wednesday and Thursday, that we fully appreciated just how boiling hot it would be.
Having moved to Wales from Maryland 15 years ago, and having previously lived in Louisiana, you’d think I would have been prepared to cope with the heat.
However, I’m very much not coping, and neither is anyone else, because we here in the UK are not prepared for heat in the way other parts of the world are.
We don’t have AC at home
Whereas high temperatures can be found throughout the US, in most places, people know how to deal with them and have infrastructure in place to stay moderately cool.
I remember often dripping in sweat throughout the summer months in the South of the US, and then walking inside to collapse near the air conditioning vent, ideally also underneath a ceiling fan.
Here, our houses haven’t historically needed air conditioning because it has never been this hot. Thursday has been the hottest June day on record, ever. There are air conditioning units for sale, but prices have risen during the heat wave — in some cases by hundreds of pounds.
Our rooms feel like saunas
It’s hot in the day without air conditioning, but it’s absolutely unbearable at night. Our bedrooms are actually like saunas. No one is sleeping, and we’re all like zombies walking around miserable because of it the next day.
Some businesses have air conditioning — like supermarkets — and people are flocking to them to walk around or just stand and loiter. Other businesses without air conditioning have closed, unable to justify risking employees and customers who are struggling in the heat.
Most schools, which should be open until the middle of July, closed on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving parents like me to figure out how to entertain kids while still trying to work. Our schools are ancient, and even with the lights off, fans on, and windows open, kids and teachers would have a hard time focusing on math.
TV and video games have become our best friends this week as we desperately attempt to distract our kids while we power through with work. It feels like the pandemic all over again.
I take my kids to buy ice cream to keep them entertained
Whereas many neighborhoods in the US have pools that people can cool down in the summer — that was where I lived every summer — we don’t have an outdoor pool near us. I tried to swim at an indoor pool on Tuesday in search of cooler temperatures, but was told the pool was closed because the lifeguards said it was 42 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) where they sit in their chairs.
Trains are being canceled because the tracks are too hot. Everyone, everyone, is very, very hot.
To survive, I have a small basement where my husband, three kids, and I have been retreating. We’ve put fans in nearly every room. The windows are staying closed, and the curtains are drawn, in hopes of keeping the hot air out and the cool air in. However, this is now causing wet condensation in nearly every room of the house.
Water bottles are in the freezer, but our freezer is slowly giving up, so that solution won’t work for long. I’ve been taking the kids every afternoon to buy ice-creams. We have a little paddling pool in the back garden, and we’re all taking turns sitting in it to cool off.
And at night, we all take cold showers before bed.
As an American who has lived in both places, I’m telling you — it’s so much worse to live through a heat wave in the UK than it is in the US.
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