33°C in London today ☀️!
It's unbearably hot 🥵
My London friends though say to me: "You're an Aussie. Shouldn't you be used to this?"🤔🙅
No, it's not the same, and it mainly has to do with infrastructure and the different humidity level.
In Australia, buildings have traditionally been designed to keep cool. Incorporated into that is the near-guaranteed provision of air-conditioning (often set to what seems to be 'Antarctic'❄️), whether it be in your home, office, shopping centre, car, public transport, entertainment venue... everywhere.
Like in the rest of northern Europe, buildings in the UK are designed to keep the heat in 🔥, which then makes extreme heat days like today even worse. Most buildings, homes and public transport do not have air-con; I repeat, do NOT have air-con. Try catching the Tube today (which they're encouraging users not to); there are only two windows per carriage that open (which someone usually has blocked with their sweaty body). Central Line? More like Sauna Line ♨️!
So here are some Aussie tips for the Brits on how to deal with days like these, especially if you're planning on being outdoors.
👉 Slip, Slop, Slap (as the famous Aussie jingle goes; any Aussie can sing it to you). Slip on a (T-)shirt, slop on sun cream and slap on a hat
👉 Also part of the jingle, "between 11 and 3, sit under a tree". In other words, avoid having to go out in the direct sunlight during the middle of the day
👉 Leave the watering of plants to the evening so as to avoid unnecessary evaporation and save on water
👉 Follow those Tube signs informing people to bring a bottle of water with you
👉 Lay off the alcohol. It dehydrates, so can be dangerous if consumed excessively
👉 Take it easy
As for you Aussies, you might be laughing at the Brits not handling what might seem like warm-ish weather, but it's a completely different situation. While not at tropical levels, the UK has humidity levels equivalent to the eastern seaboard, so that makes things feel warmer. There's never a dry heat here. Plus, I did mention not to expect much air-con.
Still laughing? Well, people in most of the Northern Hemisphere think Aussies are lightweights for finding +12 degrees 'freezing'.
Stay safe, keep your fluids up and slip, slop, slap, seek and slide!
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