A question for the locals
japra | Sep 24, 2008 | Comments 11
Sunset out my studio window three days ago. England.
Was it really that bad a summer here weather wise? I’ve only been here two summers, but to me, it was very nice this year. Last year, I spent the entire summer in my fleece pullover.
My neighbor came by for a chat this morning and said they’re off to Florida for three weeks to recover after their daughter’s wedding–Haha! She said they needed a dose of good weather after this “dreadful” summer. I’ve heard that over and over again–how awful or dreadful the weather has been.
So the question to you locals is… what is a good English summer supposed to be like?
Filed Under: Blog
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
I know I’m not exactly a local, but I did grow up “up North” which is meant ot be a little bit colder than London. I remember the summers where my parents would fill one of our trunks up with water and I’d run around in a little bikini “swimming”. I also remember being in London in June 1995, 1998 and 2004 and absolutely melting. I would definitely agree – this last summer was pretty much a non-event in terms of how hot it can get on this little island in summer.
Obviously, I’m not a local, so I don’t know, but I’ve had the same experience with locals here.
Emm–I don’t know how people manage here when it gets really hot. In Texas just about everyone has central air conditioning in their homes, businesses and in their cars!
Alyson–Well, I know everyone likes to talk about the weather (we do in Texas, too), so maybe it’s just a conversation starter?
Heh. I warned Stephen not to leave our portable air-conditioner back in South Africa and I was hoping it would be nice and hot so i could be vindicated. But it wasn’t… I find English homes just aren’t built for the heat either and with the relative humidity it can be stifling.
Emm–There have been times that I’ve wanted an AC but it just didn’t seem worth it. I heard it was really hot here Summer 2006. My daughter was here with her grandmother and she said they were handing out bottles of water at the tube stations.
PS to Emm–I was just wondering… are you here for good or for a set time?
Actually, when I arrived here last July, I almost fainted the one day on the train. I remember just closing my eyes and trying to cool myself down!
Weird that I come from Africa and find London unbearable!
The biggest reason we left South Africa is that Stephen’s profession, Health and Safety, just isn’t taken seriously there. The best market for that type of thing is a more acquiescent society, one that abides by laws. The culture in SA is very much one of doing what you want as long as you don’t get caught (this is reflected in our drink-driving accident rates). So, we came to the UK and Ste’s career is indeed doing fantastically. We promised to stay at least five year but that would probably be extended now because we will NEVER put our dogs in quarantine again. Did you have to put Trudy in quarantine? However, in five years or so we would like to go to Dubai or Australia or even the US if we could get a visa. Somewhere warm! Once we have really done our careers justice, we can go back to SA I guess, in about ten years. Providing that the crime situation has improved, that is. The other reason we came to the UK was that we and people we knew were victims of violent crime.
I’ve only been here for 14 years but I can tell you what a nice summer is like and why this wasn’t one. A nice summer includes several opportunities to sit outside in the evening drinking chardonnay and NOT shivering or getting wet. A nice summer includes a stretch of weather that is actually hot (not Texas hot–English hot i.e. 80). A nice summer gives you so many days without rain that everyone here starts banging on about the drought.
Does that help?
Emm–One day, I would like to talk to you about your life in South Africa. As for quarantine, we had the option of leaving Trudy with my in-laws during the six month wait, so we definitely took them up on that. It would have been sad to have her live in a cage for so long. Is that what you had to do?
Audrey–When I read your comment, I remembered the brisk 4th of July evening at Bee’s house! What you describe does sound heavenly, especially the glass of wine outside :-) I can see why the locals would pine for that weather. As for me, I know what I came from and what I’m going back to, so I’m really enjoying this cooler weather. However, I guess it can be a bit like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead–when the weather’s good, it’s really good, but when it’s bad, it’s horrid!
No problem (about talking about SA).
Yes, our dogs and cats all had to stay in quarantine. Maybe I’ll make a post about it one day, as I am sure people would be interested in knowing what quarantine looks like and what it entails.
Were you about to leave Trudy with the inlaws because you came from the states?
Emm–Sorry, I missed this one. I am not sure why Trudy didn’t have to go into quarantine. Here’s a link to my post from January 2007 about US requirements. I see I need to go back and update it a bit.
Please do write a post on your experience! I am very interested in reading it and I am sure it will be helpful to others. I will put a link to your story in my post about Trudy (above).