English summers are not so hot

Summer finally appears to have settled over England. And "summer" for this country means that it's in the upper 60s most days, sometimes drifting gently up to the mid 70s, accompanied by a cool breeze. On Sunday it hit 80, but the cool breeze was still there, and it was overall very pleasant. To me, at least. I spent most of my life in Alabama, where currently in the central part of the state the temperature is 97 degrees -- but feels like 104. Which means that the "summer" weather here is what I used to refer to as "winter" (before I moved to D.C., anyway).

I still wear a light denim jacket every time I go out (and sometimes a hat to hold heat in my noggin), except for the day it hit 80. A couple of weeks ago we went to the park, and it was so cold (by our standards) that we left quickly. As we lay on our blanket shivering and trying to enjoy the free concert before the chill chased us away, I looked around -- one man was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and eating ice cream! I had on full-length jeans and my jacket and it was still too cold for me to handle. Hubby was chilly too, and wishing he had brought a sweater.

My British friend, Shaun, recently wrote me that it's too hot for him now that "summer" has arrived. Wow. One could draw from this that people really do get acclimated to the weather, whether it's the heat of Alabama or the icy cold of Alaska. But it could also mean the Brits are some type of sophisticated cyborgs whose circuitry quickly overheats in the sunlight, causing them to require cooler temperatures or else suffer system overload. It could happen. ;>