[combat1]

How to stay cool
1. Load van with loads of cold water drinks, ice blocks etc
2. Go to local garage get air con recharged before work
3. Drive 15 miles to days work lapping up the air con.
4. Get phone call from school ' son not feeling well'
5. Drive 15 miles home in lovely cool van.
Might have an ice cold beer next!

[dazmond]

ive never heard of putting salt in your drinking water!surely itll make you more thirsty?theres more than enough salt in the food we eat every day.

When working outdoors in 30c heat you will sweat out a big chunk of the sodium in your body.
Not sure about you but I don't have a particularly salt rich diet. For example, for breakfast iv just eaten a bowl of muesli, a banana, a Greek yogurt washed down with a protein shake. Very little, if any salt in any of that. Certainly not enough to cover the couple litres of sweat I'm about to lose when I step outside.
Plus the salt you find in most foods is processed rubbish that gives you high blood pressure. Unrefined sea salt is much better for you, in small quantities of course.

i have 4 boiled eggs every day after my oatmeal/weetabix with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt so i reckon ill be ok without adding salt to my drinking water!

[AuRavelling79]

OK ... I'm a "bit lardy" ... just under 15 stones and 6ft tall.

Wide brimmed hat dipped in water from time to time.
Sun cream
Picnic coolbag with ice blocks.
2 litre bottle of sparkling water from fridge.
Couple of cold apples
Couple of small diet coke cans.

Aircon in van.

Today - started first house - 9.00 am temp  22 degrees

By noon it was 28 degrees and I stopped for ten minutes with my trainers off and aircon on full blast

Stopped again at 2pm (30 degrees) for late lunch and a twenty minute stop. Bare feet against the aircon vents!

Then drove to next area and worked 2.45 to 4.00 (31 degrees).

So what would normally have been a 9am til 3pm day was an hour longer because I slowed down and cooled off from time to time.

Without aircon I would've probably jacked it in at 2pm.

[dazmond]

last day of the heat in the north west today lads then back to normal temperatures from tomorrow!

ive got 12 four/ five bedroom houses to clean today(some with conservatories) all virtually right next to each other so i should get them cleaned between 830am-3pm.

air con is bliss.ill always buy/lease top of the range vans from now on for sure.it makes such a difference to cool off at lunchtime/mid afternoon in this heat.

[DaveG]

Soak your work shirt with water and put it back on.

Don't worry we'll soon be talking about how to stop our tanks freezing.

[richard groves]

I've had to take time out this week with heat stroke.
A wake up call and lesson learnt. I definitely need to take better care of myself.

[Tom White]

I got up at 6.00 am and went for a run.  Then gave Squeaky some pure water at 8.15 am; it was getting quite warm by then, so I showered, then we went out for a barbecue by a stream at a local beauty spot.

And now I'm in the 'office' (spare bedroom) with a fan on full blast, right beside me.

Keeping cool is easy, innit.

[nathankaye]

Time for a bulmers, in the shade at a local nice pub near where im working for half hour.  That will keep me cool and lightly refreshed so i can continue working........or go home n put my feet up.....not decided which yet.

[p1w1]

worse thing about this weather is every bloody house i do has every window wide open, spend more time going around closing them then actual cleaning 

[dazmond]

I've had to take time out this week with heat stroke.
A wake up call and lesson learnt. I definitely need to take better care of myself.

how did you manage to get heat stroke barry?

being out all day in the sun with no sun cream on?and burning the back of your neck?

i had it once when i was a kid.horrible.i was in bed for 3 days(first trip abroad to majorca when i was 11)

get well soon pal.

[Sir Squeaky]

You don't really. You just suffer.

I didn't bother today, well I went out did 3 and decided it was just a daft idea so went home.

Its unlikely to get this hot again for a while...it was about 30 here, 20 degrees tomorrow much more like it.

Same here. Two fairly large houses until 12ish and gave up. Spent more time sat in the van cooling off than working I think

[richard groves]

I've had to take time out this week with heat stroke.
A wake up call and lesson learnt. I definitely need to take better care of myself.

how did you manage to get heat stroke barry?

being out all day in the sun with no sun cream on?and burning the back of your neck?

i had it once when i was a kid.horrible.i was in bed for 3 days(first trip abroad to majorca when i was 11)

get well soon pal.

Too much coffee and fizzy drinks, too much beer on the weekend and never drink enough water + cheap sun cream !
I was suprised by just how quickly it hit me, like a brick wall and just how sick and nauseous I became .... so weak , I could hardly stand. Thankfully I'm beginning to feel better today .

[8weekly]

Jeez, bunch of women. Sunblock, hat, be reasonably fit - work all day. Replenish sunblock every hour or two. Worked all day every day this week and absolutely no sunburn.

[Tom-01]

Jeez, bunch of women. Sunblock, hat, be reasonably fit - work all day. Replenish sunblock every hour or two. Worked all day every day this week and absolutely no sunburn.

Exactly, just get on with it.

[windowswashed]

Drink plenty and throw cold water from any outside tap or hose over my head so thinest tee-shirt is soaking wet, keeps me cool for about an hour until dry and repeat for as long as I keep going wherever a customer has an outside tap

[dazmond]

im reasonably fit but we all tire that bit quicker in the heat while working esp if your not sleeping very well.crap nights sleep again last night for me.so hot and humid.we need a decent thunderstorm or two to clear the air!

[richard groves]

I thought I was reasonably fit too and certainly not a big girl. But it was my lifestyle and neglect that brought to my knees in this heat - something  I now plan to address and change.

[Tony dunmall]

Working in the heat can be as extreme as the cold, we don't work in -5 very well, but 30+ can be as difficult physically
Sadly when we get older it gets tougher and some just cope in the heat better than others do, When I was younger never noticed it hot or cold.
now I notice heat and cold a little more,

I tent not too eat much or drink much when working prefer hot cuppa tea on hot days might take 1/2 litre water

For me it's a hat, sun protection if its about 28-30 apart from that I don't, I'm not a fan  working in the heat but I'll work 8-2 when hot hot maybe 3 but I prefer to get done and get out of it