Siesta TimeI’ve just found out something quite worrying.

You see I’d been waiting for the summer to warm up.  Truth is I’ve recently resorted to switching on the central heating in the evenings.

Last year I got back into the UK last year after three summers away.  Because summer was well underway by the time I arrived and because everyone was moaning about the weather I never really noticed the temperature.

But now, having gone through the winter, I’ve been waiting for warmth.  So far the temperature has rallied around the mid to late teens centigrade.  But we should be knocking on well into the twenties right?  It will get warmer soon.  Won’t it?

Finally, I gave up expecting heat and actually Googled to find what the average temperature should be.

Turns out this is entirely normal.  Worse still, in August, potentially the hottest month, we’re still not going to get anything much higher than 20 degrees.  Whaaaat?

Before going away I can recall sweating in the office in the summer.  I can remember swimming in the North Sea.  I can recall camping using only a cheap Tescos sleeping bag inside a cheap Tesco’s tent.

In this heat?  Incredible.

In Hanoi it regularly reached 40 degrees in the summer but because I hid in air conditioning I am not sure I ever really aclimatised. 

I think It was Nicaragua that ruined me.  In much the same temperature I had only fans to keep me from meltdown.  Maan it was hot. 

But I got used to cold showers and sweating and grabbing my hat whenever I went out.  I got used to sleeping on top of the bed rather than under sheets.  I even got used to ice in beer.

Now I feel like as a result of that spell in Central Amercia my thermostat has been permanently hotwired.  Maybe I’ll never be warm in the UK again.

This current temperature still feels like early Spring at best.