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I'm Sure It's a Repeat of the Summer of 1976

(43 Posts)
Padstow13 Tue 14-Jul-26 07:40:51

I hope not, but with no rain on the horizon for a while it could well be.

Oh well.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-26 08:27:13

It is hotter, but you may be right regarding rain.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-26 08:29:29

Actually we are forecast 38% chance of drizzle for a few hours on Friday😄.

Georgesgran Tue 14-Jul-26 08:35:34

I hope so. I remember being quite ill in ‘76 with some sort of mystery virus thing - I was off work for a couple of months and just sat in the garden for days on end. Of course, in the North East we’re always cooler than down South.

Aveline Tue 14-Jul-26 08:38:42

Quite a lot cooler and rather grey here today. Long may it continue

jusnoneed Tue 14-Jul-26 08:51:39

Managed to get the house down to 25 degrees yesterday (after days higher) but it already going back up and 26 at the moment. Due to get hotter and stay like that for at least another week. No rain in sight.

I had my eldest son in July 76, I was very glad to see that summer end.

Cossy Tue 14-Jul-26 08:56:41

We are forecast rain later this week and long range says next week too.

We had almost four months of continuous rain at the very beginning of this year.

Our water companies should have fixed leaks and built reservoirs.

Other countries, used to this weather, seem to manage each year to maintain/retain enough water to fill all their swimming pools and flowers and plants in public areas!

Water should never ever have been privatised, it’s a travesty!

Usedtobeblonde Tue 14-Jul-26 08:57:13

I remember 76 so well and have said to family that this summer reminds me of that one.
It broke on a Saturday evening in September with a terrific thunderstorm.
We were having a fundraiser party in three gardens , we had taken the fence panels down between the gardens to make a large space and late in the evening the storm broke spectacularly.

Jaxjacky Tue 14-Jul-26 09:01:42

Another ten days with no rain will equal the local record of 45 days in 1976.

JaneJudge Tue 14-Jul-26 09:14:57

I'm just back from taking the dog a walk and it is very drizzly smile

Septimia Tue 14-Jul-26 09:26:20

I was bitten by a ladybird during the summer of 1976. It must have been desperate for the moisture on my skin. It had never happened before and has never happened since.

Padstow13 Tue 14-Jul-26 09:54:31

The most awful thing about 1976 was seeing lush green grass gradually turning to beige/brown straw. So unlovely at the height of Summer.

Grandma70s Tue 14-Jul-26 10:10:47

I had two pre-school children in 1976, so life is a lot more peaceful now, whatever the temperature.

When I went out yesterday I noticed that the grass was very
dry, beige and parched. Oh, for some rain, but none forecast.

TillyTrotter Tue 14-Jul-26 10:24:01

The drought and heat was unbearable for most of us in ‘76 and it is this year so far.
If it only happens every 50 years I console myself by thinking I won’t be here for the next one.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-26 10:31:37

We lived on the edge of Dartmoor - and spent most of the weekends on the beach at Bantham, but during the week we used to take the children up into the moors to the river Avon running down from the reservoir - there was a large pool amongst the rocks - big enough to swim in. Perfect!

GrannyGravy13 Tue 14-Jul-26 10:40:03

I was working in London, trains were rather sticky.

Weekends and evenings were spent on the beach, heavenly summer, young, free and single - those were the days…

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-26 10:42:34

The children aged 5 and 3 swam like fishes by the end of that summer.

Cossy Tue 14-Jul-26 10:46:38

I was just starting college in 1976 and spent the summer in the sea!

Greenfinch Tue 14-Jul-26 10:54:27

I didn’t enjoy that summer at all. My little one was born in the March and I worried about him in the heat and the 2 year old had very bad eczema and had to wear bandages. Nights were particularly bad and we all lacked sleep. However we survived and just got on with things because we had to. I am grateful that this time I can take life at a more leisurely pace.

Casdon Tue 14-Jul-26 10:57:21

I look back very happily at the summer of 76, I was still a teenager, and full of the joys of spring, I had a really great summer and was sad when it eventually rained. I wish I still had half that energy!

Elusivebutterfly Tue 14-Jul-26 11:02:16

I was working in central London in 76. I remember it being hot enough to take my tights off on the commute - we had to wear tights in the office.
The heat definitely did not bother me back then like it does now.

Aveline Tue 14-Jul-26 12:00:33

I remember the tarmac melting in the heat on the road near us. Great, messy fun. Not for our parents though.

Cumbrianmale56 Tue 14-Jul-26 14:02:20

I can remember an even hotter summer: the one in 1995. It started around Easter and didn't really stop until the end of September. There did seem to be a run of really good summers in the nineties.

SillyNanny321 Tue 14-Jul-26 14:11:25

Where is the expected rain going to be? I’m feeling really jealous as my weather app forecast rain for Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Now nothing but hot & sunny for next 10 days. How the weeds have the cheek to grow we do not know.

J52 Tue 14-Jul-26 14:21:54

We moved jobs to a new town, while waiting for the legal stuff on our new house we rented a high rise flat, with a balcony. Despite the heat down on the ground the flat was really airy and cool.