Keeping Cool in the sudden heatwave!!

[DavebytheSea]

Ah! I see. But how embarrassing if they suddenly came unrolled (that sort of thing always happened to me)

[cj]

Ah! I see. But how embarrassing if they suddenly came unrolled (that sort of thing always happened to me)

I think they did a couple of times. I had mediaeval history in the mornings with JAH and it usually happened in his lessons (no smutty comments, please). Most probably the thrill of Pepin, the Merovingian children's programme. Or B*st*rd Feudalism (tee hee). But, cleverly veering back to the original thread, it is well known that covering yourself in voluminous clothing keeps you cooler in hot weather than skimpy things.

[J.R.]

In my Grecian's year, I regularly went to breakfast (and even some lessons before break) with my skirt and jacket over PJs. Gave me extra time in bed!

My pyjama bottoms would have showed under your skirt (in a manner of speaking)

You have to roll the legs right up over your knees.

How the hell do you do that ? You'd have to walk on your hands !!

[sejintenej]

1) Re. weather. Half of the windows in our house have been painted shut by some previous moron.

No. A miser perhaps, who thought there was still a glass tax

2) Re. uniform. In my Grecian's year, I regularly went to breakfast (and even some lessons before break) with my skirt and jacket over PJs. Gave me extra time in bed!

kinky beast, or was it that you knew somethingt about the male of the species you aren't disclosing?

[cj]

kinky beast,

Thanks!!

or was it that you knew somethingt about the male of the species you aren't disclosing?

That sort of education happened well after I'd left school ...

In reality, the truth is that I was a lazy teenager. Hard to imagine, I know, but there it is.

[Hendrik]

The thing you mustn't do - is take paracetamol or asprin for headaches in this heat, as if you are suffering heatstroke you can kill yourself - it's tepid bathing, iced water or fruit juices - nothing that will actually raise the temperature of the body until it is back to normal -

toot toot - poor boys - in this weather!

hate to be a wet blanket (coincidentally very good for cooling down) but it was icy water that killed our dear founder...

[sejintenej]

WEll how do you guys cool down then?????????????????

well, for a start this one lives in a house which is actually built to withstand bitter cold and baking heat (we frequently had over 50degrees outside two years ago).

Nice thick walls are excellent insulation and shutters keep the sun from heating inside the rooms so it is pleasantly cool (but not actually cold) to walk around with no shirt whilst in bed I use a thin duvet over a sheet to cover me in midsummer.

As for you, why not blame Whitehall who lay down planning regs. (We did have a problem when someone in Provence wanted large windows on the north side and small windows on the south (sun-facing) side of their new house. The application was turned down on the grounds that, in order to get the maximum heat into a house (and save energy) the south side should have large windows! Eventually the government relented in this case but would Blair do so?
Bureaucrats!!!!!

[Jude]

I have a newish house - built to "Energy saving" (whatever that means) standards - we don't face absolutely south, but are more ssse! So in the morning the front of the house gets the sun - which is wonderful in winter, lovely in summer - but it does mean I don't get much sleep now as I seem to be on 2hrly slots! With the windows open at night I can get the temperature in my bedroom down to about 24C - which means just a sheet and a nu-nu..... (ok - Jude what's a nu-nu???? it's a large piece of thinish fleece in pink to go with my room which is enough in the summer (even too much), but in the winter adds just that extra touch to my 13.5 tog feather duvet....) I never have the heating on at night, and I always sleep with my window open even if it's freezing (hence the nu-nu and 13.5 tog duvet!!) the sun then slides along the side of the house where we have no windows - just a lot of insulation and then the late afternoon (well at this time of year from 3pm onwards we get teh onslaught on the back of the house which has the patio doors, kitchen door, kitchen window, landing window, daughter's window and my en-suite windows - which pretty much bakes us... I have tried drawing curtains etc, but I think I am going to resolve to bowls of ice cubes with the fan over as the humidity here is awful.... (the BBC rate it as 55%, but I think it's a large amount more!!)

Helpful hints from those who live in the hotter parts of the globe to those of us who are temperature intolerant even in Britain (known for it's rain) would be good - such as :

is it better to sleep in a cotton t-shirt than in the nude? (being single I have options!) I do have 100% cotton sheets (all soft and silky) to cover me..

is it better to leave curtains open or closed at night - I tend to leave mine open to get a better draught - however this means I have nothing to stop me from waking as the sun rises (about 3am argh...)

what is the best way to stay cool - after you have showered, dried off in a cool fan and lain down on the bed??? (no sillies - I am desparate!) i am lathering myself with moisturiser and then letting the fans "dry" it off - allowing for some cooling, however, with huimdity up - does that still work?

I can cope with the cold - extra layers, socks, nu-nu's Pj's etc.. It's the blinking heat (which I know I shouldn't moan) about that is doing me in!

Have been awake since 5am, up since 6am, am totally knackered, but it's too hot to sleep - HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cj]

I read this when I was having terrible trouble sleeping in the summer when I was pregnant - spray your bed with water, so it's lighly misted, not drenched, and that should keep you cool. But I imagine you'd have to do that when it's really hot otherwise you might run the risk of getting pneumonia! I also resorted to sleeping with ice-packs (for picnics etc), cuddling it like a hot-water bottle and putting it on pulse points.

[Tim_MaA_MidB]

Got a fan?

Sleep in a hammock in the garden?

[englishangel]

When I was about 8 my six year old brother and I went to bed in a hammock in the garden (top to toe). It was strung between an apple tree and the swing.

Hammocks are not a good idea for two, especially wriggly children and after about an hour of kicking lumps off each other we abandoned the idea and went to bed.

At 2 am there was an almighty crash which woke our parents and they rushed to the window to see the apple tree laying across the hammock.

I suppose if we had still been in the hammock the tree would have fallen down much sooner, with us under it.

[Tim_MaA_MidB]

It does take a while for 2 people to get comfy in a hammock.

[Euterpe13]

Jude:

there is a simple solution for the curtains/light problem, which I use... wear an eyemask to bed - you soon get used to wearing it, and light is no longer a problem !

I find it cooler to sleep in a cotton T-shirt without a sheet than naked under one - the air circulates better , and I always have a bottle of cold water by the bed. For ME aches & pains, and fidgety legs ( which also make you feel hotter !) I use the Body Shop menthol leg gel - it really cools you down.

You could at a pinch use it all over, except for your face.

Cheer up, being the UK the heat cannot last much longer
b.r.
B

[Katharine]

I find it cooler to sleep in a cotton T-shirt without a sheet than naked under one - the air circulates better , and I always have a bottle of cold water by the bed.

I agree with that, it is a long time since I was in a tropical night without any air conditioning - which does make a BIG difference!

Out there we didn't have to cope with the light as it was dark from 6 till 6. When our boys were little they went to bed with the sun and got up with the sun - this made for huge problems when we had a home leave during the summer months!!!

[J.R.]

Don't you just love being British ?

We moan when its hot !

We moan when its cold !

We moan when Labour's in power !

We moan when the Conservatives are in power !

We moan when the Lib Dem's are in ........... ! (Ooops ! Sorry !!)