It Ain’t half Hot Mum

Don’t burn during your Cyprus holiday!

We are talking about the current weather in Cyprus, not the 70s UK TV series.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it is a tad hot these days in Cyprus. It is not that we don’t normally experience this sort of temperature, it is just that it usually comes along in August not in July - and even then not quite so high. Some reports have suggested that temperatures reached the mid 50s. I have heard that some places have reached the early 40s but mid 50s sounds somewhat exaggerated and unlikely. The Cyprus Met office gives a high of 46.6C at Athalassa on the 4th July.

Either way, it is pretty hot, hotter than anything you are likely to have experienced in England. So be careful. There’s a saying about mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the mid-day sun. It is at mid-day that it is at its hottest and the wiser holyday-maker will keep out of the sun in the early afternoon. It is a good time to have a siesta anyway.

A long time ago (long, long time ago) while I was still at university, I came on holiday to Greece with a friend of mine. “Be careful of the sun,” I said to him. “Five minutes in the sun in Greece (in summer) has the same effect as one hour under the English sun.”

“I’ll be OK.” He said. That was on the first day. He got so burnt that from the second day onwards he had to wear a shirt when he went swimming. In a different situation, I told my daughter only last year “You need to acclimatise slowly, Stay out in the sun a little bit each day, increasing the time a little as the days go by.”

“Dad – You’re forgetting. We don’t have any sun in England with which to acclimatise ourselves each day.” Of course they had sun this year, but it came all in a rush.

The standard advice is to put on high factor sun lotion if your skin is not used to the intense Mediterranean sun. There are though, quite a few articles circulating about sun tan lotion containing cancer provoking chemicals.

My own advice forCyprus  holidaymakers arriving from colder climes:

1. If your body is not used to this intensity of heat is to stay out of the sun completely except for a few minutes.
2. Keep your head covered if you are in the sun. Hat, towel, whatever.
3. Avoid dehydration, drink plenty of water – The H2O stuff, not beer, though in moderation that too is delightfully refreshing.
4. Bathe in a pool or the sea often and wet your head.
5. Make a comfortable temperature for yourself when you are indoors. Most hotels and holiday homes here have air conditioning and/or fans.

So look after yourself and stay well to enjoy your holiday, but also please look after the environment. Grass is tinder dry in this heat. Every year numerous fires are started by the careless throwing away of a match. Think and don’t throw one away and carry on enjoying your holiday, unburnt and in our beautiful island setting.