Sheffield, England—site of the 1997 film The Full Monty—is a small university town in the north of England, which my cab driver assured me is "boring" during the summers, when over 70,000 students stop crowding the streets. I had prepared myself for an uneventful few days, when none other than the hottest day of the year hit England. It was an event in itself.
The town was thrown into a full-fledged tizzy. A fuse blew on account of "The Heat," so the wireless went down. English legs that hadn't seen the sun in ages dripped with sweat. The air conditioning for the building I was in had never been used and no one knew how to turn it on. As those responsible for the building temperature apologized profusely for the stifling climate, I looked around to see if this was really happening. It literally couldn't not have been more than 70 degrees. Later sources declared an average, nation-wide high of 77 degrees.
So I spent most of the day comfortably outside, along with several drippy, red-faced English people fanning themselves violently and removing progressively more clothing as the nearly never-seen sun rose higher. Sitting in the Peace Gardens opposite Sheffield's Town Hall, I watched kids and teens play in the city's fountain, happy to divert my eyes from the increasing amounts of skin being exposed on the grassy knolls. If I can say nothing else about the hottest day of the year in England, I'll say this: It was a scene to make the six out-of-luck steel workers proud. Cheers to that.
Photo: The fountain at Town Hall is a favorite place to shake off warm temperatures in Sheffield, England. By Alexandra Burguieres.
77 degrees?
How can it be so hot in here? It's like North Africa in here. We've got to get some booze. It's the only solution to this intense heat. Something's got to be done. We can't go on like this.
Posted by: Conal | August 14, 2008 at 01:49 AM