"If you think the temperature uncomfortable today, let me take you to the last day of July 2052, the rays of the climbing sun reveal a city still sweltering in the residual heat of the day before. From the air, London resembles a colossal refugee camp. Streets, gardens and parks are teeming with tents and cobbled-together shelters...," - goes a write up in 'The Guardian'.
It talks about London and just pause ... apply your handkerchief to remove the saline water on your nose or forehead .... and imagine what would be India !! --
"People sleep outside because their houses are too hot to inhabit, water is scarce and supermarkets are for the wealthy" -- runs the piece penned by Bill McGuire.
He draws quite a bleak picture !!
Half-hearted attempts to upgrade insulation across the country’s housing stock ran out of steam and cash decades earlier, and most homes still have few barriers to the infiltrating heat.
Almost all the country’s electricity is now from renewables, which has brought the cost down, but the relentless onslaught of extreme weather has driven an ever-deepening economic depression across the world. Many now have air conditioning, but can’t afford to run it.
Sunbathers and swimmers cool down at a beach in Bournemouth (BBC snap)
In 2025; BBC carried a write up with a declaration: "A yellow heat alert, less serious than amber, has also been issued for Yorkshire and Humber as well as the West Midlands. It denotes "significant impacts" for the health and social care services."
The Guardian article of 2026 - also predicts a 2052 ---
"Growing crowds cluster around state-run grocery stores that provide the basics at affordable prices.
Failed harvests at home in the previous two years, and massively reduced food imports, as other nations stricken by extreme weather hold on to what they have, has meant the rationing of bread and other staples.
Supermarkets still exist, but they are struggling to keep prices down, and so cater almost entirely to the wealthy."
The power is out again, as it has been intermittently since the start of the heatwave. The problem isn’t generation but transmission; the extreme temperatures making cables sag and break and causing transformers to overheat. The doors of houses are open to let in the relatively cool air of the night, although the temperature hasn’t fallen.
(How to end ... 'unhappy reading' !! )
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