A week into the latest hot spell, and it is getting deadly serious - I use that word advisedly. The last time there were temperatures like this for a similar duration in 2003, thousands died in Paris and elsewhere due to the heat. There were 4 fatal drownings yesterday, and there will likely be more today, although I guess not all make it to the national news. With 42 degrees in our garden in the shade, and forecasts of over 40 degrees for the next four days, we are on war footing. We advise others to be equally vigilant.
To be fair, one of my ways of coping was to travel to England for a good part of last week, and while the journey each way was long, a bit tedious and rather sticky, I did find opportunities to cool down. A visit to Greatstone beach on the Fifth Continent was curtailed by a thunderstorm, but the short plodge in the English Channel was welcome.
During a visit to Penshurst Place, I met the Drinking Bear automaton - an excellent advocate for keeping hydrated I think you will agree!
While after a good roam through the gardens at Penshurst, we had to take advantage of the tearooms to rehydrate ourselves - plus a bit of sugar to keep the system ticking over! The hot herbaceous border was magnificent but thirst inducing.
At Eastbourne, we were able to stroll along the promenade, admiring the fog sitting on the cliffs above while enjoying a delicious sea breeze - as I said at the time, thousands of visiting pensioners cannot be wrong!
All that exercise did mean we felt justified in indulging in an ice-cream sundae, but that was also hydration and cooling down at the same time! I have to say, these weren't cheap, but the most amazing quality and stuffed full of, in my case, chocolate chunks, in others' cases, cherries and chocolate liqueur.
All the products from this café that we tried were excellent, and some of the local residents agreed and were plotting how to get their share. I was firm - I think there are fines for feeding this lot anyway.
The reason for Eastbourne and the whole visit really was the exhibition Comrades in Art at the Towner Gallery - I won't write about that here or today as I need to take my time and process what I saw and learned, and it deserves more than a passing comment. I was immensely impressed to see that the AA had put out signs to direct people to it, even though access is currently difficult due to the Tennis tournament.
I was even lucky enough to watch a hot air balloon float along the valley below my host's house, as proof of rather lovely weather.
But all good things come to an end, and yesterday, after lunch with an old school chum, I got on a fog bound ferry and headed home. Driving down from Dieppe (17 degrees and foggy at 10:30pm), things warmed up slowly, so that at Rouen it was 19 degrees at 11:15pm, at Alencon 20 degrees at 1:00am, le Mans 21 degrees at 2:00am, and as I turned into our road at 2:45 in the morning, it was 23 degrees. I was greeted on the doorstep by the night slug warden, doing a good job as usual.
After all that, I had to be up very promptly this morning to be able to leave the house with any degree of comfort, and have the joy of the heatwave for the next four to five days at least. Gym classes are cancelled, and I will need to cancel work parties for the village float too. I also need to buy fans, as two of ours have died with the heat - b*****y typical!
Have a good week!
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