Phew - today hit 40c in the shade. Heaven knows what the temperature has been in the direct sun.
9.30pm it was still reading 30c - but thankfully the house has only raised 1 degree to 24c all day. It’s deliciously refreshing to walk on the tiled floors in bare feet.
At the Mairie, they’ve been phoning the elderly to ensure they are coping - especially important where folk live alone.
Keep thinking cool thoughts, everyone … 
Pulled the pool thermometer out this afternoon and it was reading 32c…not particularly refreshing.
And it’s going to be even hotter over the next few days 
Don’t forget, if we are hot and need a drink - so do the birds etc
Not just a heatwave to watch out for…
…grandma’s basic thermodynamics, before refrigerators - the best way to stay cool. My grandma had a cotton cover for the milk bottles, with beads around the edge. As long as the cover was damp, the milk stayed very cool. If/when it gets hot here, I carry a large cold water spray and stay quite comfortably cold and fresh.
I obliterated Bo Derek in her damp T-shirt, (as an image edit), an example of ‘effects to avoid’… and just add the warning, instead, to remember to check how you look in a damp t, before your trip to Leclerc, etc.
Well said Stella, I’ve got bird baths of varying sizes in the garden and the routine is to clean and replenish these each morning when watering the pots and baskets. As well as my cats own bowl I have extra pet bowls around the garden (in shaded spots) for the neighbouring cats (including strays) taking a short cut to their next garden!! I’ve even rescued dehydrated bats (my attic is full of them!!) and moved them to a safe shaded spot. We have to do our bit for our garden visitors, they give us so much joy.**
Mmm… at the risk of making enemies - I admit that we have resorted to using what we call cat-nappers. Battery operated thingies to keep the cats away and allow all other wildlife to come and enjoy our terraces.
I thought they were destroyed by last winter’s chill - when I found 3 cats pooing/parading/chasing the birds - but all that was needed was a good clean of the contacts and some new batteries. Phew, order has returned.
It’s ‘open house’ here Stella, my neighbour’s sheep are regular visitors to the garden, climbing over the wall, squeezing under the wire fence for the lure of ‘pastures new’!! Whilst not ideal (the mess they leave behind) I’ve learned to be more relaxed about the whole thing. Although last week they climbed over and injured themselves quite badly, I was more worried than the young owners.
Ha ha… we had a cow once - trotted across our terrace leaving no traces and must have jumped the low wall at the far end, then wandered into the garden below - roaming and mooing at will.
We were woken up by the frantic shouts of a neighbour who found the cow on her patio…
I rushed out and “encouraged” it to go back up the street and into its field.
Cat’s mess dog’s mess - not nice when you have small kids around - or adults for that matter. 
we had a fascinating family of Black Redstarts in our hedge this year, after refitting the cat-nappers.
It’s the dog mess that really winds me up. Outside the house is a small strip of grass with a lavender border which I lovingly tend. We have had to resort to making our own ‘keep your dogs off the grass’ signs and fixing them to the wall, this seems to have done the trick. Across the road from the house is a grass border left to grow wild which the commune cut from time to time, this would be preferable to being used as a pet toilet to my manicured strip of grass. I have been known to remonstrate with said offenders and let them in know in uncertain terms what I think of them!
Sadly the dogs in our country village are very backward in their schooling - none of them can read. 
The Maire issued a edict forbidding dogs to be let off the leash and instructing owners to clean up their dog’s mess. This might seem high-handed but folk arrive in the village - say how pretty, how rural, etc etc - then let their dogs loose and we (residents) end up with stuff everywhere and the sheep and cows get unwelcome attention.
Yikes … @ChrisK is this the latest BoJo publicity stunt ?? 
It’s currently 40c in the shade here… phew so glad tonight’s meeting clearly states “salle climatisée” in the blurb.
You’re quicker than me, it’s too hot.
A suitable headline is required…I’m thinking, ‘Boris shows us his full range of negotiating tools’
At least he remembered his helmet! Wonder how long before this picture fades from my memory 
German! We are known for dropping our clothes and wander about starkers. All he had to say when stopped was ‘it is hot’… He was asked to put the trousers back on - so as to not be a distraction to other motorists.
Wish he was a bit more ripped. Have seen better examples in the sauna.
He isn’t a habitual naturist, clearly, or he’d have a towel and be sitting on it.
