JOHN SIBLEY
LONDON—Complaining about typically miserable weather is a fundamental pillar of British conversation. But as a potential record heat wave set in on Monday, the entire country is talking about nothing else—and locals are cooking up some truly unhinged solutions for dealing with the soaring temperatures.
The U.K.’s Meteorological Office issued unprecedented red “danger to life” weather warnings for Monday and Tuesday as forecasters expect the mercury to rise to about 104 F in some areas. For context, only three days in British history are known to have been over 100, with the absolute record (101.7, set in July 2019) set to be obliterated this week. And in a country where as many as 97 percent of homes don’t have air conditioning, experts have warned thousands of excess deaths could occur this week.
As the panic has set in, many Brits have desperately sought novel ways of keeping their homes cool. One particularly odd solution has seen homeowners covering the glass of their doors and windows with aluminum foil to stop the sunlight coming in. The theory goes that dark curtains and blinds absorb light and can actually make a room warmer, so clearly the sensible thing to do is to turn your living room into a lunar module instead. Other people are fashioning “DIY AC units” by placing a bowl of ice cubes in front of a fan, redolent of how the A-Team might make a “DIY tank” out of scrap metal and string.