I’ve been holding back on talking about the weather, mainly out of respect for many in the UK who were suffering with rain and a lack of sunshine when we left…but I think it’s OK to say it’s hot here, now there is a mega heat wave across Britain.

The heat brings its owns joys and trials in Cyprus. First off, manual work needs to be tackled early and by that I mean before 9am! I’m not a morning person, but I do find it easier to get up earlier as the sun streams in and yes, ‘Surprise! It’s going to be another sunny day’. By 9 o’clock the temperature has risen enough to make you eat breakfast in the shade and from then onwards the heat builds steadily. Today we hit 37 degrees.

My skin is now accustomed to being semi moist most of the time. Before living here, I had to do a serious amount of exercise before my face was wet with perspiration….like running round the fields, or up and down the stairs at work with boxes of unwanted files. Now I can just be hanging out washing, sweeping the floor, making beds and as I lean down water is running down my face and dripping onto the floor. Apparently this is the humidity. It also makes getting ready for a night out tricky. No sooner have you had a shower, than your face is soaked again with the heat, so forget about wearing make-up boys! This also means a dress or costume have to go on at the very last minute, so advice is – stay in underwear as long as possible, only putting clothes on immediately before stepping out of the door.

I am not complaining though. It is relaxing to wear fewer clothes and good to hang out washing knowing it will be dry in less than an hour. Also weirdly liberating never to even consider taking a cardigan or a jacket with you for an evening out. At first I used to check myself English-fashion, Does it look like rain? Will it be cold later? The answer was always ‘no’, I can’t remember what rain feels like. The other day the sky was slightly less blue and I saw water running down a window outside… “Is it raining?” I asked. “No, silly it doesn’t rain in the summer, that’s the air conditioning unit dripping down the window.” Although there’s no rain, there’s often a warm wind here in the afternoon which is a blessing as it billows through the house, helping cool overheated skin and bringing relief from the intensity of the heat. At night we are saved by the ceiling fans, but if that’s not quite enough a cold shower before lying down seems to do the trick – the sheet acting as your towel.

Cooking can be a trial in the hot weather though, opening the oven door and stirring food on the hob is hot sticky work. But I have discovered the sun does a great job of making bread dough rise – no finding warm places in the house or balancing tins on radiators. The other day two tins of bread dough had risen in half an hour or so sat on a chair in the sunshine – easy peasy. I haven’t tried frying an egg on the patio yet, but guess all things are possible in this heat!