London on heat

Why is it that it FEELS so hot in London when it is actually not any hotter than places like Thailand, Greece and Sydney that I have visited in summer?

Reasons?

1 - London shops typically have crap air conditioning and refrigeration. I was talking about this with a cabbie yesterday. How come when you go into a corner shop in say a little village in Crete, the drinks are icy cold. Always. Yet, go into similar in London and the drinks are at room temperature, even when in the "fridge" (and I use the term loosely.)

2 - London transport has no air conditioning. Get onto the overground metro in Bangkok and it is like walking into a cool room. In London, I hear the tube resembles a furnace and temperatures are so high it would be illegal to transport livestock in them.

3 - Lack of water to cool off in. Let's not go into the hose pipe ban, but the only places for Londoners to cool off in are probably their showers at home, public swimming pools (yuk, remember - people who swim in these are hot. Hot means they are probably sweaty. Then they get into this body of water - with other people. Yuk.) or the Thames (think cholera, dysentry, anything but safety really.)

Anyway, my poor kittens are suffering in the heat and probably think the end of the world is nigh. This is their first summer. So I have been pouring water on our lawn so they can sit on it to cool down. As for me, keep in the shade and drink loads of cold water - and think of the pounds I am hopefully sweating off :-)

The fans deserved better

It's interesting to read the Guardian's comments about yesterday's failure by the England football team. Suggesting we welcome them back as heroes. For failing, yet again? For progressing no further than they have previously?

As an Aussie living in London, I will always support Australia in any sporting matches. So maybe my comments are a bit biased, but here goes anyway.

Compare the performances of the two teams:

Australia, in only our second world cup appearance, make it to the first round of the knockout stage, only to get beaten via a questionable penalty from a team who have since gone on to the semi finals (Italy).

England, in their umpteenth world cup appearance, struggle to get past a team who were in their first world cup (Ecuador) in the first knock out stage, and then lose yet again to penalties at the next round.

For Australia, football ("soccer") is only our 5th most played sport - behind rugby league, Aussie Rules, rugby union and cricket. To get as far as we did was a big achievement, and the socceroos are deservedly being hailed as heroes back home.

But for England, football is probably its number one sport. The combined value of the England squad is probably more than that of any other team in the competition. And for them to fail yet again to at least get to the semi finals is absolutely nothing to be proud of.

In fact, the England supporters should quite rightly feel cheated and conned. The team should have done better - no excuses. They are overpaid, over rated and hence over here early again.