Your heathwave experiences in France

People in France have been getting in touch with their experiences of the heatwave.

Nora, who lives in a flat in Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda in southern France, was without air conditioning as temperatures climbed to 42C over the weekend.

“It’s common not to have air conditioning in the region,” she says.

“The heat was so bad this past weekend we were worried about our dog, Pearl.

As a precaution, we drove about an hour away to rent a pet-friendly hotel room for the weekend – just to sleep in the air conditioning and get out of the heat. The dog was thrilled.”

Nora has since returned to her apartment for the week, although the temperature is still 41C.

“We never have the lights on; we have the shutters partially closed. We have fans in front of it. We keep cold towels in our freezer and have those draped over us.

It’s really just the poor dog – she doesn’t really want to eat. It’s just so hot for her, so we keep her in cooling baths.”

With the heat showing no signs of abating, she plans to find another hotel to stay in next weekend.

“We’ve made plans to do the same thing in a different city. We’re kind of combining hiding from the heat with some local travel and exploration.

But it’s not sustainable to go to a hotel all the time. We’re fortunate that we can – I know that’s certainly not available to everybody.”

In Verdets in south-western France, Charlotte Blythe, 76, says the last two weeks have been “difficult”.

“We do any physical jobs such as gardening, housework, and dog walking before 10am at the latest,” she says.

“The house is put in the dark as we close the shutters or pull down the blinds. You are always thirsty, you have no appetite, as the heat builds, your energy diminishes. The fans are on for hours.

The worst time is at night. We sleep separately during this heat. Our dog Ruby is 12 and she’s a curly coated retriever, so she has a thick coat, and we just make sure that she’s got plenty of water. We let her lie in the shower.”

Blythe has lived in the area for 20 years.

“I would say the first 10 years were fairly sort of constant in the summer – you knew what was coming.

Over the last 10 years, it’s accelerated. We bought a mobile air conditioning unit two years ago. This [heatwave] is demanding because it’s come quite early in the year, and we know that we’ve still got the height of the summer to come.”

Cover photo:  Nora’s dog, Pearl. Photograph: Guardian Community