There was a lot of this going on yesterday. All of us kept to a level of minimal activity, Dave working on music arrangements in the living room, me reading on the garden bench, Olga snoozing in the grass. (We cancelled her dog walker.) Thus we all survived our heat wave.
I don't think it got quite as hot as predicted. The hottest temperature I saw on my phone was 99º F, a bit shy of the anticipated 101º F. I'm not sure those extra few degrees would have made a whole lot of practical difference, but crossing the 100-degree mark would have seemed more significant.
Not that I'm complaining we didn't get there.
It was an eerie day, honestly. I'm sure I've experienced similar temperatures many times before, living in Florida and certainly during my Peace Corps years in Morocco. But feeling them in England was profoundly unsettling, at least for me.
In the afternoon I made a quick trip to school, to check on the library, empty the book-return bin and pile the incoming magazines in one place for easier processing in a few weeks. The building is air-conditioned, so it was a good day to visit, and I belatedly realized I should have brought my book and just stayed there.
But by late afternoon the temperatures had stopped climbing, and Olga began to get antsy. I took her to the cemetery, where she surprised me with far more energy than I expected. I brought a bowl and gave her water a couple of times along the way, and she chased squirrels and barked as usual. She's resilient, I'll give her that!
It was another good day for butterflies. We saw this Jersey tiger moth (above) lurking in the shadows of a shrub -- the second I've seen this year. (There was one in our garden early this week but it flew away before I could photograph it.)
And this gatekeeper was enjoying the nectar from a ragwort plant.
Overnight we had rain and thunder, and this morning it's 68º F. What a change!
I laugh about overreactions to this mini-heatwave in the media. Personally, I love this heat and the sunshine. It is as nothing compared with Bangkok. Bring it on!
ReplyDeleteI wish it would drop to 65 here. Enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteYP: Yes, but Bangkok is SUPPOSED to be this hot. We're not!
ReplyDeleteE: We are!
Olga certainly IS resilient! If I were a tourist in London and the temperatures got above ninety I think I would ask for my money back.
ReplyDeleteFrom whom, I'm not sure.
Trippy book cover. What are you reading?
Glad you made it through the mini-heat wave. There were lots of photos and stories (mostly from Paris) in the N Y Times yesterday afternoon. I looked at the Abbey Road webcam and saw that almost everyone was wearing shorts but the tourists were still posing in the crosswalk.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of hot temperatures. Anything above 80 degrees is too much. Glad to know them temps there are coming down. You do have beautiful butterflies there. I love seeing them.
ReplyDeleteYou can keep the heat. 90 F is far too much for me.
ReplyDeleteha! should have brought your book and read. as if you weren't standing in a room full of books. this is the last of our cool mornings from the unprecedented cool front that moved through. humidity is rising though highs will still be low 90s.
ReplyDeleteOne sure thing about the weather: Whether it's cold or whether it's hot, you're gonna have weather, whether or not. I heard that many times on the radio when I was a little tot and it's stuck with me somehow.
ReplyDeleteI have a question - is London humid, not like Florida humid, but like mid-Atlantic coast humid? Or is it a "dry" heat? I understand that 99 degrees is hot no matter where it shows up but high humidity takes it to a whole other level.
ReplyDeleteThat was a quick heat wave, at least - done and dusted :)
ReplyDeleteI may waiting for an arty selfie
ReplyDeletebeing in London when it is hot seems hotter than anywhere even though the temperature is maybe not as high. So glad you have a garden , it looks pleasingly cool, Olga knows!!
ReplyDeleteMs Moon: It's definitely trippy, because it's T.C. Boyle's novel about the early years of LSD experimentation, "Outside Looking In."
ReplyDeleteSharon: Paris had it much worse than we did -- they hit 110 degrees!
Robin: One of the good things about living in England is it seldom gets anywhere near that hot.
Red: I agree!
Ellen: The thing is, I am a one-book-at-a-time person. If I'm reading a book, I can't start another book. I have to finish the one I'm on first!
Catalyst: I definitely can't argue with that! LOL
Elizabeth: Being an island, Britain is pretty damp overall. But like anywhere, some days are drier than others! Humidity in the next few days is supposed to range from 56 to 82 percent.
Jenny-O: Yes! If you're gonna have a heat wave, that's the way to do it!
John: I'll send you one!
Linda Sue: All the concrete doesn't help, but London doesn't seem NEARLY as hot as New York in the summer. So for that I'm thankful!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis heat is awful. I am in Texas and I would rather be living in Nevada. At least the heat is a dry heat.
Olga looks like she didn't have a care in the world lol. She is very pretty. I am wanting a little fur baby of my own but I live with my sons and when we lost our Cisco they said no more for a long while. When I bring up the subject they both just shake their heads no. We are room mates so we all have to be in agreement in decisions and a pet is a big decision.
Love reading your posts. I am catching up. It has been a hectic couple of weeks here. Beth Reed