"The Met Office has issued an extreme heat weather warning for tomorrow - Sunday and Monday and Tuesday."
Although temperatures were supposed to be high all week, gradually creeping up to a possible 38℃ here next Tuesday it hasn't been too bad.............. so far.
Monday - Hot, clear blue skies and sunshine with a bit of breeze 27℃
Extreme Heat Warnings is what we've been getting from the weather forecasters. They showed which years had been the hottest since the 1970s. One of which was 1976 - I remember that one very well as I was working on the mobile library - a tin box! No such thing as air-con back then but windows and side door open while we were traveling kept us cool enough - it was the 30 minute stops in villages when we practically cooked.
During many of the hottest summers in the last 30 years we were living at the smallholding just 4 miles, as the crow flies, from the Suffolk coast which tended to keep us a degree or two cooler than further inland.
Tuesday - Cloudy and humid all day with occasional sunshine 25℃. A good shower in the evening revived the plants but added nothing to the water butts
This weeks rising temperatures have coincided with my next door neighbours having some work done to replace their very old, broken and uneven patio slabs and extend to make room for a pool for their two children - one of those free-standing ones that's bigger than paddling but smaller than swimming! So doors and windows open wide and mini-digger, whacker plate, slab cutter, cement mixer and their landscaper's radio playing and lots of dust! Abby said he is supposed to get it all done before the end of next week when school finishes.
I made a point of not letting the noise bother me - just one of those things that will pass eventually.
Evening is the best time for watering the garden, and my big water butt has needed re-filling from the mains yet again. I've had to haul two more tomato plants out of the greenhouse. They were getting badly diseased, blossom end rot and yellowing leaves. All in all it's not looking like a good year for tomatoes - on one 5 foot tall plant there is only 1 truss of flowers - no idea why and still none ripe enough to eat yet. Thank goodness there are some HUGE green toms on 'Super Mama' so I'm hopeful for having enough to make the red hot relish later. Weighing about 8oz each?
Wednesday - Hot and humid with cloud coming and going, quite breezy in the morning, enough to keep blowing the patio door shut. 24 ℃
Next door's landscaper man has discovered a mystery regarding the drains from the back of their house which seem to turn a corner without a manhole to run into a manhole on the driveway between our houses. It's helped work out which way the drains run in front of my bungalow which is useful to know for when the builders come to do the work to move the en-suite. The manhole cover in between our parking areas is not a heavy duty one and has been bent out of shape so really needs replacing. Another job for their man to do - we'll share the cost.
Thursday- Some clear skies, some cloud, cooler and breezy - even 'fresh' at times 24℃
I've been visiting Germany and Sicily this week after a strange couple of evenings in Senegal .........???????.......TV crime drama of course! The Senegal drama is the first African Crime series to appear via Walter Presents on the 4 catch up channel. It was weird and included Zombies and Witch Doctors. In Germany I've been with Falke, who started in Hamburg but then seemed to move around. Also had two evenings in Sicily watching the very last two ever of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries. Plus I spent a couple of afternoons in France with Le Tour. I was pondering, as I watched them biking up a mountain, if anyone has ever got off and walked!
Friday Beautiful sunny blue sky 25 ℃ in the morning and then cloud cover and cooler in the afternoon 23 ℃
I cut back the dark purple Buddleia hard last autumn in the hope that butterflies visiting this years flowers would be more at photography level - but No, the new growth was huge and the butterflies are still way up too high. You'll have to believe me when I say there were 3 Peacock, one Red Admiral and best of all 1 Comma all at once on there in the sunshine.
So that was the week in temperatures and now for the HEAT, how close to 40℃ will it get? We will see. If it does it will be the highest temperature EVER recorded in this country.
Have a very good weekend, take care, drink water, stay cool 😎 and BTW don't do what I did a few years ago and put a hot water bottle full of water in the freezer to use to keep cool overnight. When I tipped it out half the inside rubber stuff went too!
Back Monday
Sue
I was working on a mobile library in 1976 too. Mine was for the Schools Mobile Library Service so our stops were for about two hours and we then had around twenty children at a time inside the van! Ah yes, I remember it well!
ReplyDeleteI did about a year in Childrens libraries and went out on the schools mobile now and again. What I enjoyed most was putting together project boxes of books to go to schools on various subjects
DeleteI was in my third year of teaching and my friend, Liz was in her last three months of pregnancy. She found it all very, very hard indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe school I taught in was one of those old London buildings with high ceilings and very tall windows and it wasn't too bad at all - until one stepped outside. xx
Being pregnant in heat is horrible
DeleteI remember 1976 very well. I had a pony then and he was turned out with others. By mid-June the grass had browned to a crisp and we were having to feed hard-to-get hay. I was living in Southampton then and we recorded the hottest temperatures I seem to remember. 36.5C (96 degrees F). Day after day of terrific heat, then we got to August, the weather broke and it didn't stop raining.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope you don't get up to 40 deg. in the next couple of days.
My tomatoes are putting out a few flowers, but very little fruit, despite me pollinating with a little brush. Cucumbers have failed to get above 6" growth. Ah well, better luck next year.
My tomatoes just have so few trusses - but at least they have set fruit - the big ones are Huge
DeleteI remember 1976 all too well - doing exams that summer, it was not pleasant.
ReplyDeleteI am taking most of the Met Office's dire warnings with a pinch of salt. Yesterday I woke up to rain . . .
I think they seem to concentrate on London temperatures - we'll see what happens
DeleteI remember the 1976 heatwave. It started in June the day after my wedding, which had been a wet one! My brief honeymoon was spent in the New Forest and I got very burnt on the beach in Bournemouth.
ReplyDeleteThe marriage didn't last long by the way, although that had nothing to do with the weather.
I remember being on holiday that year and getting a heat rash - horrible
DeleteSo far my tomatoes and cucumbers are doing OK, but I am wetting the floor several times a day at the moment, and the vents are open 24/7. It's not quite as hot here in West Wales though - we'll see how we do Sunday and Monday!
ReplyDeleteI like heat but this sounds a bit Too much
DeleteI love the hot water bottle idea.
ReplyDeleteI spent part of my childhood in the Middle East. My mother would freeze my drink bottle overnight, by the time lunch came around I had a nice cold drink. Out of interested I just checked todays weather for there high of 41 and low of 33 and that is pretty much the forecast for the next 10 days.
The hot water bottle was a really BAD idea as it completely perished when defrosted
DeleteIn 1976 I was at Wimbledon watching the mens final on Centre Court. We had seats high up and the heat was unbearable, like sitting in a furnace, so we could only watch a few serves before we went for a breather outside, then back again for a few more serves. I can't remember much about the match, even who was playing, but I think it was Borg winning his first of five. Wearing denim jeans didn't help with the heat lol. Then that night I went to a friends Silver Wedding party.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of wearing jeans in any heat makes me feel even hotter!
DeleteMuch like our weather here Sue so far. Nothing too extreme. There has been a fresh wind every day although only very slight today. On the watering front I read in a gardening article yesterday that either last thing at night or first thing in the morning were best for watering and always right down at the root, never over the foliage.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have spent every summer evening watering for so many years!
DeleteOur weather people are talking about Britain's heat breaking previous records. That said, it continues to be between 80 - 90 degrees F in Massachusetts and no rain. So it is no better here. Your large tomatoes look outstanding. It will be very nice for the children next door to swim in their own pool. Knowing where the underground pipes are will be good to know for your upcoming plumbing changes. Sometimes things just work out nicely.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased with thebig tomatoes. It won't need many to make my favourite relish
DeleteI remember that year; Summer began in mid April and didn't end until October. Nothing grew.
ReplyDeleteThat's even worse than here
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