How hot is too hot?

When walking down the Grand Rue this afternoon, I overheard two women greeting each other and then straight away complain about the heat. If it hadn't have been for the fact that the conversation was in French, I would have thought myself back in my local High Street in South London.

However it does lead to the interesting debate about how hot is too hot. Yes, in the UK as soon as the thermometer hits over 20, everyone starts fanning themselves and complaining about how hot it is. Here in the (nearly) south of France, where the thermometer regularly hits the high 20s and above, you would expect more resilience amongst the population.

Today was a pleasant 27c - or so the flashing green sign outside the chemist informed me. Tomorrow will be the same - according the radio station playing in the background while I was in the shoe shop (It also pointed out that there is a traffic jam on the A7, along the Rhone, so you may want to avoid that area for the next couple of hours.) This sort of temperature is fine by me, though I do have to say that when walking up the hill, the shady side of the street is preferable to the sunny side. I find it a tad hot when it starts hitting the low 30s and when it hits the high 30s and above is when you will find me lying in a shaded room, with a damp cloth on my forehead and moaning like hell.

I feel I am acclimatizing well and as I said,the other day refused to go swimming as it was only 25c - I mean it was an outside pool!!!! Do you want me to freeze???
I still have a way to go though as several years ago, when working in Hong Kong, I realized I was sitting in the park, wearing a cardigan and it was 32c....