UKC

For those who were kids, at least, the summer of 76 was endless wall to wall sun.

Here and now, I can't remember the last time it rained near me and there is no prediction of rain for another week at least.

Will this summer go down in folklore to be told for generations like 76?

We just need a plague of ladybirds and that will leave no doubt.

The weather here in SW France has been good but not too hot. Usually by this time of year we have had a  day or two with temperatures reaching 40° C. Violent thunderstorms ( some  forecast for this evening / amber alert) and heavy downpours have kept things looking green and fresh. A drought is unlikely now, so it will just be a slightly above average summer !

I understand that the consecutive days over 30 degrees was much longer in 1976.  I was 5 so only have vague memories of it, but can remember going to bed with the windows wide open and just a single sheet on the bed.

My crayons melted in 76. That hasn't happened this year.

Is it as good as 2012 yet?

Break out the flare and Oxford bags.

What we are witnessing is a return to the good old days when Summer was Summer, Winter was Winter and England were good at football.

2006 was good.  So were 2003, 1995 and 1990.  Though 1976 was a long, hot summer, there have been others since.

T.

In 1976 there was a minister for drought (Dennis Howells?) He was pictured sharing a bath with his wife to save water.

We haven't sunk that low, yet.

Don't forget 1975. Because 1976 was so good, people forget that the previous year was amazing as well. I remember thinking at the time that this was the new normal!

Alan

We were on holiday in the Lakes in August 1974. Had a trip to Haweswater and walked around the otherwise drowned lanes of Mardale Green. Surreal.

That's triggered a memory.....I recall doing the same in 1982, backpacking in the lakes and it was so hot. I also recall camping in Glenridding for a few nights and it was heaving with groups of girls, down on the grass by the Ullswater pier was like a beach....good times!

1976 is the one that sticks out in my mind more than any other since then until this year. I was 16 at the time.

All we need now is a plague of Ladybirds and white dogshit and living here will be great again!

Too young for 1986, but in 1995 I remember visiting the ghost village in the bottom of a Yorkshire reservoir and Yorkshire having to import water by tanker from Northumberland!

1976 was much hotter than this, it was well into the mid 30s every day. The hills and countryside turned brown, and very dusty. There wasn't the cooling easterly wind like we have now, and the nights were generally a lot hotter and more oppressive. It felt like the Mediterranean countries. 

This really isn't very hot, at least not here in the south east. The temperature generally has stayed below 30 degrees during the day, with a few exceptions, and so far I have only experienced one night where the temperature hovered just above 20 degrees all night.

Another factor in 1976 was that there was little if any air conditioning in offices and shops, nor in buses and trains, and certainly not in cars which made it feel much more sticky and uncomfortable.  And clothing generally was more uncomfortable. People wore thicker materials, including wool and flannel suits and trousers. We did wear cotton shirts, but we didn't have the lightweight wicking and casual materials we now wear. 

Hurrah! A thread that makes me feel young  

No idea about 1976 (prehistoric times) but summer 2018? Boom. I get through a bottle of suncream before the end of June, England win a penalty shoot out, and Danny Dyer calls David Cameron a tw*t on live primetime television. Twice.

What a time to be alive.

I don't think peak temps are the problem... It is the weekly or monthly average through the summers, combined with less rain and when it comes it might do so in a brief deluge.

Countries need to become better and more efficient at storage and use. Perhaps the days of washing cars and watering grass with drinking quality water are nearly over. 

I'm pretty sure the sex was better in 1976. 

Not over yet of course.

Where do you live that you need more than that on a normal summer? I grew up in Kent and a sheet and window open was pretty much June to September.

Leeds.

(mic drop)

Ah, white dogshit. Whatever happened to that. Good times.

As others have said, 76 was very different. Much hotter. A real heatwave that melted the tarmac etc. This is just very nice 'Mediterranean'-type weather with a very untypical gentle, cool easterly or north-easterly breeze most of the time.

It topped 32’C for 15 consecutive days.

No offices had air conditioning either. 

Think we had 3days this year. Today I don’t think it even hit 26.

I forgot about that. What caused all those ghost turds?

I don't know but there's a chalky one outside my front door. It actually made me feel a bit nostalgic!

Bones. My dog gets a bone to eat occasionally and his poo is always white after that

Someone told me it was to do with there being so much ash in low quality dog food which is much less common these days.

We feed ours raw, with a chicken wing along with mince, liver, green beans and carrots - their turds are small and turn white. 

Only on UKC can a thread about summer turn to a discussion about dog shit :^)

What a summer ‘76 was! It helped to be 16 years old. I’d got my O level results, and my Saturday Job ( remember them? I started mine when I was 14, 2 hours on Friday night and  8 hours on Saturday) was extended to full time over the summer holidays so I had some cash for the first time ever. Just started to look old enough to regularly get into clubs where soul and rock bands were starting to be replaced with early punk bands. The dripping heat that summer just seemed to make these gigs even better. We made our first forays to see excellent local reggae bands in pubs in Handsworth that summer too.

Even better was that on the horizon returning to sixth form was that the Labour Party ed reforms had turned my all boys school into a sixth form college with its first intake of girls! 

We were hit early evening by violent thunderstorms. The garden is devastated. Fruit trees, vines and vegetables all damaged by enormous hail stones, the biggest of which were as large as a goose eggs. Thankfully there is no structural damage. The rain gauge overflowed but I estimate  100mm fell in a couple of hours.

In 1976 we had vinyl car seats too. Ooooch.

Dunno about 76 but this is turning into a great summer - has been fantastic already, just needs to hang on a bit long to be a great one  

I was 16 in 76 and remember going on a cycle touring holiday in Wales, we went on the beach at Harlech and you couldn't walk on the sand in bare feet it was so hot. I also remember swimming in the lake on Cader Idris and almost drowning. I went in, took a huge breath of air and followed the bottom of the lake not realizing how deep i was going, when my breath was running out and i wanted to surface i was about 20 foot underwater and never felt so glad to break the surface and grab some air.

When you put it like that, I can forgive you calling 1976 prehistory.  

T.

and shorty short shorts. Ooooch.

My dog is doing his best, one shit at a time

I admire his dedication to the cause.

Will all the "offices had no air con in 76" brigade realise that many people don't work in offices which have air con in 2018. 

Air con is hardly a measure of how hot the weather is, more how plush yet dull the working environment has gotten... For some....

If it adds weight to the argument,  my mum was preggers with me, born late July in 76.  And my folks who are now in their 70s have not even murmured about it being "hot". But do tell of watering the house with a hose pipe to cool it down in 76. I have not needed to do this to get a comfy nights sleep, and we still have a duvet and not just a sheet.

Yes it's is great now, and I'm loving it (and Mc Ds milk shakes) but I have a sneaky feeling that we are not yet hot enough for long enough. Bring on the summer! Long live the summer!

Ps I'm on holiday next week. Fingers X.

Ha. I didn’t realise I was part of a brigade. 

“No offices had air conditioning back then” is not the same as “All offices have air conditioning now.”

However, there were no air conditioned data centres back then and all data centres are air conditioned, is true.

I’ve not complained about the heat at all. It was only a couple of days and didn’t really get very hot. Wasn’t it the hottest Mayday bank holiday this year? Although I’m not sure if we had Mayday in 1976.

It is a law of the Internet: all nostalgia threads end up with white dogshit

and nylon sheets were lurking

Does it work for humans?

I've just driven me mam home to Sunderland and there was a lot of dark cloud and.. Shock horror...about five minutes of very fine drizzle.