This American’s take on why us Brits always moan about the heat (even when it’s not that hot) is a properly intriguing read
If there’s one thing we can predict about the British summer (is it summer yet?) it’s that us Brits will inevitably complain about the heat, even when it’s not actually that hot.
We say this after this American who grew up in Texas and has spent half is life in Las Vegas went on Twitter to explain why Brits consider 25C (or 78F if you prefer) hot when the rest of the world (or a large part of it) would simply shrug their shoulders.
It went wildly viral a year or two back and it’s as intriguing today as it was back then. Which is to say, a lot.
1.
I’m gonna explain to y’all why Britain considers 78°F/25°C hot. I know hot because I grew up in Texas and spent half my life in Las Vegas. So I am absolutely qualified to explain this to the rest of you who laugh at UK “heat waves”.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
2.
First of all, most people don’t really seem to get how far north Britain is. If I flew due west I’d hit northern Quebec. If it wasn’t for the North Atlantic Current, this island would look more like Iceland. So it didn’t used to get *hot* here really at all. pic.twitter.com/utAf5fFyr8
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
3.
The climate has always been coldish-cool and it’s crazy humid. Like Florida humid. It rains a lot. The closest climate to it I’m familiar with is Seattle.
Know what people in climates like that don’t have?
Air conditioning. They didn’t need it until recently.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
4.
The houses are built to retain heat, not circulate breezes. They’re bunkers – small windows, a lot of transom – the ones that don’t slide up like sash windows but have a smol window at the top that opens outward to keep rain from getting in.
No ceiling fans either.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
5.
So imagine being in a stone or brick building in Tampa at 70% humidity at 75°F with no AC, ceiling fan or breeze, and that’s my house on the edge of London today.
It’s goddamn miserable, and I say that as a dude who’s experienced 125°F dry heat many times. Better that than this.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
6.
The British use those tower fans, which any hot climate person rightly regards with contempt. They are useless. The only thing that works in heat is a box fan in a window pulling air from the shady side of the house.
Guess what they don’t have here?
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
7.
You know those Lasko box fans you can get in literally any American store for less than $20? This is the cheapest equivalent I can find here. That’s $83 at today’s exchange rates. I’ve literally never seen one here.
Their entire society is designed around chilly damp. pic.twitter.com/aKHQzNKyOD
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
8.
Now, I have issues with AC for environmental reasons, but I’m also not interested in stroking out from heat, so when I moved here I dropped £100 on a used standalone AC unit off Marketplace. It’s the size of a dryer and it takes up way too much room in our house, but it works.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024
9.
I have an accordioning vent hose that goes out the back transom window into our back garden.
It uses roughly £1 of electricity per hour. Not per day, per hour. This is not ideal if you’re poor, and we are poor. But at least I have it. Very few people here do, even in new houses.
— Josh Ellis (@jzellis) June 24, 2024