#but the temperature won't go below 28°C

[tofuingho]

It is so hot and the building I'm in refuses to cool down.

[fernthewhimsical]

Like, I don't think y'all understand. Our country wasn't built for heat, is was built for cold. So many of our houses are what they call "doorzonwoningen" (lit. through-sun homes, where the sun could shine through the whole house) which were meant to retain as much heat as possible in winter.

Today it will be 38*C (100.4F)

When I was younger, in the early '00s, we never had temperatures above 30-32*C (86-89.6) and those days were RARE. Our summers were around 25-28*C (77-82.4F). Our buildings are made for those temperatures. So now we have student housing which they can't cool down below 27*C, and homes for the elderly that do the same.

Our house was built in the '80s, when it warms up it won't cool down as easily.

They are hosing our bridges with cool water in Amsterdam, otherwise the metal will warp and they won't open anymore. In the UK trains stopped because the heat will warp the metal, and melt the electric cables, and that has happened here before as well so it's a waiting game until public transport stalls.

This is dangerous, and life-threatening, and will only happen more often as climate change keeps going. And so far all that is done about it by our government is saying "keep cool, stay hydrated, invest in blinds and other things to keep out the sun". That's great, but we're living in literal stone ovens...

Meanwhile the road to the beach is now closed because all the parking garages are full. Because when we say "code orange, stay indoors, try not to move too much" that means "beach day! Woo!" ...idiots