It was hot, yes, but the reality was a bit less feverish than the headlines.
| On Tuesday , the mercury in British thermometers went to a place it had never been before: 40 degrees. On the baking streets of London, what was it like?
It didn’t feel particularly unpleasant, although as the heat built up to its mid-afternoon peak it became pretty sweaty. I wouldn’t play cricket in it, say, like I did at high school.. But, awful though some of this was, it was the distilled essence of the heatwave. Elsewhere, things were quiet. Some of the traditional British response to a warm day, however, was less evident. The parks weren’t as full as usual with shirtless sunbathers - we’d got past that stage, it was just too hot. My local pub’s huge beer garden is usually teeming by 5.30pm when the sun’s out, but it was practically deserted.The Tube and train stations were also depopulated, as the transport system buckled - sometimes literally - in the heat.Inside the carriages, it was hot but bearable.
On London’s south bank, members of an Australian cabaret and circus troupe show the locals how it’s done.Most people I met while out and about were finding it bloody hot, but offered that quintessential British mixture of resigned stoicism and deprecatory humour. Normal summer service will resume. In August, many Brits will go on holiday to Greece, Italy and Spain - looking for more of this kind of heat.