July heat!

The sun is beginning to sink just below the horizon this evening at 9.00pm. Today was one of the hottest on record so far in England, temperatures being ,greatest in the South and South East. 
Here where we live in the Midlands, it reached 31C this afternoon, and at 6.00 pm it was still 30C. 
     I guess we are not really used to it in this country, where we expect it to be hot on the Continent, and go prepared when we travel abroad on holiday. 
It reached 35C in London. 
   This is the first week of the long school vacation, and the roads are fairly quiet, as a lot of people have gone on holiday. 
  As we live directly opposite a large school our road in particular is blissfully unencumbered by cars parked everywhere. 
   I am sitting with our patio window wide open. Our cat has not known where to put himself all week so far, at one point taking refuge on the tiled floor of the bathroom in the loft, wedged between the shower and the toilet! 
   I cannot remember the last time it rained! 
Yet my roses are surviving and still blooming. The geraniums thrive in the sun, and my sunflowers, which I have grown from seeds are about to open their cheerful yellow petals. 
  I have never known people to be asking " When will it rain?" 
Normally it is usually "When will it stop!"
    The harsh winter is now a distant memory! 
The sunset was beautiful and although there is a weather warning out for possible torrential downpours, at the moment it hardly seems likely.