This week, was forecast to be super hot here in London and the South East of the UK, with red weather warnings being issued by the Met Office. Monday was relatively hot at 29 degrees celcius. I was doing my usual thing of heading out of town to do the weekly shop. It was hot, but there was a breeze, which made it bearable.
The shopping went okay. I did most of it at Lidl, but I did have a £4.50 voucher off a £30 shop at Sainsbury's, so I did most of the rest of the shop there. I no longer have loyalty to one shop. I go wherever I can use a voucher or buy discounted items. I made sure that everything I bought at Sainsburys didn't cost more than I'd get it for elsewhere, so it didn't eat into the voucher saving. I was issued with another voucher at the till, so I'll be shopping there again next week. I treated LB and I to some summer punch (i.e. supermarket branded Pimms type drink). It isn't actually as nice as the real branded drink though, but is a refreshing drink during hot weather.
I also treated myself to a mooch around my favourite out of town charity shop. I hadn't been there for 3 or 4 weeks. I tried a few things on, but came away with just one item, a white viscose loose fitting top, which will be very comfortable to wear on hot days.
The only thing that marred my day, was the atrocious driving of numerous people on the roads. It seems to be getting worse. On the way home, one guy aggressively cut in front of the car in front of me and then whilst stopped in traffic, got out of his car and did a little victory dance. Madness. The heat seems to make people turn crazy.
When I got home, OH had got out the air conditioning unit, in readiness for the heatwave, so we were all set. I planned on staying very close to home for the duration. I was lucky that I could do so.
After supper, I persuaded OH to come with me to the allotment to do some harvesting, but after about 10 minutes picking gooseberries, I had to come home. I was being eaten alive by midges or gnats. Poor OH was left to harvest on his own. I promised to go back during the daytime and make sure I was appropriately dressed. (My ankles were bare!)
Tuesday morning, I was awoken at 3am by a loud clap of thunder and then stayed awake for an hour or so listening to the continuous thunder and lightning outside. It was a mega thunderstorm, but the garden got a good water, so all was good. It was a little hotter than Monday.
I had booked to go to Zumba in the morning, so took myself off there. I enjoyed the class. I didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the day. It was pretty hot, reaching 33 degrees celcius, so I stayed indoors. I ended up binge watching a Harlen Coben series called Lazarus on Amazon Prime, which took care of the afternoon and part of the evening. OH was watching England play football in the evening, so I took myself off upstairs to read. It stayed hot well into the evening, it still being 27 degrees at 9pm.
On Wednesday, I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything in particular. As it was forecast to be hotter still and actually got to 35 degrees today, I decided to stay home and do very little. Even getting showered and dressed made me feel sweaty, so I was happy to do nothing and stay cool. LB, meanwhile, was sweltering in the local pet shop again, so she was glad to get home to the air conditioning in the kitchen. I did a bit of reading today. I'm currently reading John Steinbeck's The Red Pony, which is good. It's only a very thin, small book, so it won't take me long to read. It's beginning to feel like a bit of a lost week because of the heat, but it's probably better and safer to prioritise staying cool, than risk getting overheated by trying to do too much.
Thursday, I decided that I needed to be a bit more productive, despite the heat, so I got up and ready a bit earlier whilst it was still cool and OH and I headed down to the allotment to do some harvesting and watering. There were lots of peas to harvest, and still more gooseberries. It had just been way too hot to go there during the day for the past couple of days and we were getting worried that they would go over. Within an hour we had done all the harvesting we needed to do, watered and I'd done a bit of weeding here and there, ready for inspections at the end of this month.
I then needed to head off to the gym for my Aerobics class and left the weighing and washing of the produce until I got back. It took a couple of hours to wash and weigh, top and tail and unpod most of the peas. The freezer is filling up with gooseberries, as it is just way too hot to make jam right now. but when the weather cools down a bit, I will do it. We've currently harvested over 20kg of produce, so the allotment is producing well. It will be interesting to see how much in total it has produced by the end of the growing season. I'll let you know.
On Friday, OH was feeling a bit fed up of being couped up in the house every day, so he suggested lunch in a local restaurant. LB and I were happy to oblige. We had an okay lunch, as the restaurant we visited wasn't as good as when we've been previously. I don't think we'll be visiting again. We then sauntered back home, via the local Co-op and a local charity shop, but I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. We were glad to get back into the relative coolness of the house. The thermometer almost hit 38 degrees today, which was insane. I'm definitely over this weather and can't wait for it to cool down a bit.
I did a bit of laundry and then hung it out, watered my indoor plants and read for a while. Just a very chill afternoon. OH was cycling later, so he headed out for that. Rather him than me. I stayed home and watched a movie.
Saturday, was what I think was the last of the super hot weather. It was forecast to be 32 degrees, so a little cooler. It was another day of staying put at home. I had a nap in the afternoon, as I'd woken early and then later the weather cooled quite a bit, which was a big relief. I was finally able to get out in the garden and do what I love to do, i.e. potter and prune, with a lovely accompanying breeze. It was so nice, as the heat has almost made the garden out of bounds this week. Hopefully, we're back to normal temperatures from here on in.
It was a much cooler day on Sunday, thank goodness. In the morning, I headed out to the gym for an hour or so. OH was out cycling and LB had picked up an extra shift at the local pet shop. There was a lovely breeze today and some cloud, which was much appreciated. We could at least open up the windows and doors and let some air in. I've felt a bit confined to the house this week and am so happy to have cooler weather and be able to get on with things outside and inside.
After supper, I popped to the local shops to get a few bits and called in at the allotment on the way back. I harvested a couple of things and watered and OH joined me there shortly afterwards. Our inspection is next weekend, but I think it's all tidy enough. There may be a few gaps in planting, mainly due to harvesting, but so be it.
I hope you've survived the heatwave if you're in the UK and if not, I hope you've had a good week.
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