The swimming lakes of Hampstead Heath in north London attracted townspeople on Tuesday during Britain’s historic heat wave. (James Ford for The Washington Post) Comment on this story Comment LONDON — On Britain’s hottest day, with temperatures topping 104 degrees Fahrenheit, we found earthlings huddled next to the fridge at the Marks & Spencer grocery store at Marylebone train station. “I was here for about 10 minutes,” said Andy Martin, 28, a video technician. “Do not tell anyone”. This is not normal here. This kind of heat. This heat wave. The Met Office, the nation’s weather service, said at least 34 locations in Britain beat the previous high temperature, with a wide swath of south-east and central England topping 40C. That’s a hell of a 104 Fahrenheit. A fire broke out in Dagenham, East London, as temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit on July 19. (Video: Storyful) Britain is not designed for this. The nation’s homes and shops, train stations and subway cars, schools and offices — very, very few of them have air conditioning. Has it ever, in human history, been this hot in the British Isles? Probably not. There was a kind of dread, an anxious feeling in the capital on this day of marking. It was blowing, but that dry sirocco-feeling wind, common in the Mediterranean, in Sicily and not in Southampton, with the summer leaves rustling and people stumbling, from one shade to another, as the ambulance crews were busy peeling heat stroke victims outside the sidewalks. Stepping into some of Britain’s hottest houses on the hottest day was like stepping into a steam room. As Washington Post reporters entered some of the apartments at the Chalcots Estate, a public housing estate in north-central London, they encountered a sweltering heat. “Can you feel it? It’s so hot,” said Mandy Ryan, who works as a spokeswoman for the residents’ association. She walked into her living room and pointed to a ceiling fan, its blades spinning slowly, and accused the appliance of being useless. “That doesn’t do anything,” he said. Like many residents in the tower block just north of Regents Park, he has stunning views of the London skyline. Visualizing Europe’s heat wave with edible vegetables She also has an excellent collection of cuckoo clocks and ceramic dog ornaments. But inside her home on Tuesday, what was most striking was the soupy air. Bonnie, her Labradoodle, was panting heavily at her feet. “We won’t have lamb for dinner tonight,” she joked, nodding at her unused oven. John Szymanska, a craftsman originally from Poland, was plastering and painting a flat in Hampstead, North London. “It’s a misery,” he said, drenched in sweat. “But what can you do?” asked. “Where it’s getting hotter and hotter.” Why this European heat wave is so scary Unlike some immigrants, who might report finding the English weak in this heat, Szymanska showed sympathy. “I feel them. They are not used to it.” Back at Chalcots Estate, Paul Rafis, 38, a butcher and hip-hop artist, was struggling. His sofa bed was covered in fur. He explained that his dog, Wise, sheds a lot. Not that Rafis sleeps much. “When it’s hot, you suffer in these blocks,” he said. In his 15th-floor studio apartment, Rafis was worried his refrigerator might catch fire — so he turned it off for four hours and shoved the food into his freezer. Some experts said the 2017 fire that tore through nearby Grenfell Tower, killing 72 people, may have been caused by overheating wires in a fridge-freezer. “Nothing in the house is usual in this weather,” said Rafis, tapping his refrigerator, which felt warm again immediately after the plug was turned back on. Europe floods in record heat wave as thousands flee wildfires The London Underground, the Underground, can be very hot – and no line has a worse reputation than Bakerloo. “Anyone who enjoys a spot of paddling rivers of molten lava should head for the Bakerloo line, where it will feel very much at home,” tweeted Labor MP Karen Buck. We entered Charing Cross station with trepidation. There were industrial-sized fans pushing air into the narrow passages, but just like a cave, deep underground, there were pockets of cool air on the platforms. Inside the carriages, it was quite ripe. For Angel Rodriquez, a Hispanic kitchen worker on his way to his afternoon prep shift, the drive wasn’t as bad as he thought. He wasn’t philosophical, though. “This is all of us,” he noted, saying climate change will only intensify and worsen matters. He nodded when reminded of newspaper headlines from home, where huge fires have engulfed parts of Spain. Spain has been ravaged by wildfires amid a record-breaking heat wave The streets in London were not empty, but they were certainly quiet, with the windows of the city draped with curtains to block out the sun. The royal parks and their large lawns were mostly empty, with only a few hardy souls spreading blankets in the shade of the trees. The Lido, a public swimming pool on Parliament Hill, had a long line of people waiting to get in. In the water, the children happily splashed around each other as the lifeguards blew their whistles. Back at Chalcots Estate, the playgrounds were childless. Authorities had even urged healthy young people and their parents to stay at home. Some residents told The Post they had installed air conditioning — only 3 percent of British homes have it — or bought simple fans. Most, however, simply drank cold liquids and avoided the sun. A few, though a minority, said they were embracing the heat. “I’m sweating, but I love it,” said Chantal Peters, 43, a mother of six. He said things got worse two years ago when temperatures soared during the pandemic lockdown. “It was 34C, we were locked in. Now that it was hot. That was disgusting.” Sean Walsh, who works in sales, was visiting his 71-year-old mother who lives in a top floor flat. His daughter took time off from school because of the heat. He called the weather “brutal”. “It’s uncomfortable and hot, and this country is not designed for that heat,” he said. “The environment is changing and people forget that. All that concrete, in any big city, is a heatsink. Freddy would be blind not to read the research and see that this is going to continue and we need to adapt. “ Especially in tall buildings, which emit heat. “It’s multiplying,” Walsh said.
