Some like it hot.

It may be hot and subject to warnings of a risk to the elderly and very young. Wildfires constitute a real danger to vegetation, wildlife and property. Portable fans have sold out completely at B&Q. Unfortunately a few dogs may perish in overheated vehicles and a few boys seeking to cool off in the local canal.

 As a heatwave it does not really figure in the record books and especially when compared to that momentous summer of 1976.

The long dry spell in that year was sustained enough to change people's lives, homes, finances and even the demographic of the nation over the ensuing years. It was a full nine weeks of drought conditions and with those in the South of England experiencing a run of 15 days of daytime temperatures at 90 fahrenheit.

In my home city which wobbles about on a clay subsoil the evaporation rate by natural means and the exploration by tree roots under buildings in the leafy middle class Avenues caused startling incidences of cracking. The activities of Structural Engineers and Underpinning were a common sight for many of the following years

 Hosepipe bans were introduced countrywide and with patrolling officials seeking to guarantee compliance. I remember that summer being one that our paddling pool dried up and perished from non-use.

It was competition time for the dustiest, grubbiest car and many an opportunity arose for rude words and insults to be written with a licked finger on a rear window.

Standpipes appeared in some streets or with supplies brought in my road tanker. Flushing the loo was encouraged using washing up water and many a grimy ring emerged in British bathtubs as family members shared its contents.

The air was filled in almost biblical manner by a plaque of horrible almost transparent green aphids. In response Mother Nature launched an epidemic of the main aphid predators and we had an ever more unpleasant rainstorm of ladybirds.  On a trip to the nearest beach the wave upon wave of red and black insect made driving hazardous from impacted bodies on the windscreen and lights. The black tarmac surface dressings on roads and footpaths melted in sticky, gritty residues that clung on to everything coming into contact.

Night times did not give much relief from the latent heat and as a particularly sweaty 13 year old adolescent I spent much of that summer of freakish weather outside of the continental quilt.

Perhaps the strangest phenomena of that heatwave was the 1977 blip in male births attributed to the fact that the female chromosone is more sensitive to higher temperatures.

So the current spell of weather is not particularly remarkable so for once just enjoy it for what it is.