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Survival Techniques for Hot Weather in Carlton

Posted by alexkemp on 9 June 2016 in English. Last updated on 1 July 2016.

In the fewest possible words:—

  1. Clothes — keep covered from the heat with cottons/silks
  2. Hydration — small, continuous drinks of water
  3. Salt ‘n’ sugar — water is not enough
    (surprise: Coke/Pepsi are ideal, if expensive & burpy)

It is currently 21:25, 20℃ & 68% humidity in Nottingham. It was far, far hotter whilst surveying this afternoon on Carlton Hill, and I was struggling to keep my head intact (losing too much salt via sweating).

The message about hydration seems to have got through to the young, but I’m not sure if the message on electrolytics (salt) has. Here is a tale from the 1970s; it was sufficiently dramatic that I learnt it for ever.

I was in my 20s, married with a young child, and the collapse in the value of the £ (GBP) + soaring inflation had meant that my so-called good job would no longer pay the mortgage. I found another job. That saw me canvassing for lemonade sales door-to-door 10am-4pm at this time of year in similar weather. I was guzzling lemonade throughout the day at an astonishing rate of knots.

The residential estate I was working was at the top of a hill, so the route home was downhill all the way. The vehicle I was driving was a Commer van, heavy in itself and still loaded up with crates of lemonade. My first intimation that I was not in a fit state to drive was when I drove smack into the back of a car parked at the side of the road.

I knew it was there, but had become transfixed at the wheel and my reactions were so slow that I hardly diverted away from the vehicle. The back of the car was written off, the Commer van was barely scratched. The folks that owned the car had just loaded it up ready to set off on holiday. Thankfully, no-one was hurt; just bent metal & disappointed dreams.

There is a curious connection between what happened to me & what can kill young kids in hot countries such as Africa that catch dysentery. The root cause is often a bacterial or amoebic infection, but the actual danger is dehydration & consequent loss of minerals & salts. The rehydration therapy is NOT just water; the early doctors that tried to help discovered that children still died if they only got water. Aid workers now carry plastic bags that contain a dry mixture of sugar & salt. Mixed with boiled water, that becomes the life-saver:—

6 level teaspoons (25.2 grams) of sugar
0.5 teaspoon (2.1 grams) of salt
1 litre of water

…and here is a further curiosity for you: original Coca Cola & Pepsi each have the exact mixture of salts to water as shown above.

PS
68% humidity is very low for England. Nottingham is in the middle of the country, yet is only about 75 miles (120km) from the sea. 90% humidity is typical here, if not higher! However, every so often we get an influx of weather from the Sahara, the humidity plummets & kidney stone incidents soar.

Location: Woodthorpe, Arnold, Gedling, Nottinghamshire, England, NG5 4JY, United Kingdom

Discussion

Comment from Warin61 on 9 June 2016 at 23:06

Climate is relative. ‘We’ do acclimatize to where ‘we’ live. People who live in Darwin, Australia get use to the daily maximum of 32℃ year round. When it gets to 25℃ they put on jumpers! They even get use to the ‘dry’ season (~10% humidity) and the ‘wet’ season (90% humidity). It is the rapid changes ‘we’ don’t handle well.

Today’s weather in Australia “winter has arrived” 21℃ Sydney, 12℃ Hobart, 33℃ Darwin.


Clothing .. cotton works well … but holds lots of water and takes time to dry. Modern synthetics work better, hold less water (much faster to dry) and last longer. They are not as good with smells - need a good wash now and then rather than just wearing them day after day. Cost benefit ratio I am not sure of.


Salt is also a taste thing.. people like the taste so it gets added to food and drink to make people consume more of it and therefore make more money for the sellers of these products. So called ‘sports drinks’ are usually a waste of money for most people.

Comment from alexkemp on 10 June 2016 at 00:07

Hi Warin61

I’ll defer to what you say about clothes, and I’m sure that your words on acclimatisation are accurate. However, to talk about salt just in terms of ‘taste’ is truly to miss the point. There is a reason that Roman soldiers were paid in salt (Latin: ‘sal’, hence ‘salary’) and a reason that elephants travel miles up into the hills just to get minerals (salt) from some rocks because nothing in their diet provides it. Re-hydration with just water is worthless and, in some circumstances, can be harmful.

I’m content to let you have your wild extremes, Warin61. Living all my life in this little island I’ve been royally treated like the story of the 3 Bears: never too hot, never too cold, but nicely moderated. Suits me.

Comment from jonwit on 10 June 2016 at 17:23

This talk reminds me of the epic debate…. Water or Gatorade.

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