Hot hot hot

Today the 'Very Hot Weather' warning is in force.  This is provided as a nannyish service for anyone who was not expecting it to be hot during the summer in a sub-tropical climate.  The invaluable advice is to drink water, take a rest, wear a hat and use sunscreen lotion.  Er, thanks...

OrdinaryGweilo.com has its own 'Very Hot Weather' warning:

• Members of the public are advised that shopping centres will be full of people wandering around aimlessly because it is so hot outside and so cool inside.
• If you go into a bookshop to buy a book, you will find it particularly difficult today because members of the public will be occupying all available space by sitting on the floor reading books.
• Swimming is out of the question because all pools will be full of people trying to keep cool by getting in the water and moving around randomly within a 5 metre radius.   

UPDATE: The Observatory currently (20 July) has a bizarre combination of warnings in force:

THE AMBER RAINSTORM WARNING SIGNAL WAS ISSUED AT 11:00 P.M.
THE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED.
IT WILL REMAIN EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1:00 A.M. TOMORROW.
THE VERY HOT WEATHER WARNING IS NOW IN FORCE. HOT WEATHER
MIGHT CAUSE ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
SHOULD TAKE CARE TO AVOID HEATSTROKE.

So if you got out now you can simultaneously get very wet and heatstroke.  There's something wrong there, I feel.

Comments

[henry]

this is a throwback to the old colonial days when if the heat index breached 40, squaddies were not expected to perform strenuous outdoor duties (like training)

If one remembers the days of BFBS, they had regular announcements to the fact during official hot weather days...yet another bit of british history that hasn't gone away post 97.

[Ken]

It might seem 'nannyish' to a Gweilo who doesn't have a command of the local dialect. It's got nothing to do with the "state", actually. To me it's a strange "IQ regression". Ever notice advertisements (that are on the tax payers) telling you to hold on to a railing or something when you were on an escalator or a moving bus?

[Bromgrev]

As long as they don't feel the need to print instructions on packs of toothpicks ...