Many thanks for those of you who messaged with suggestions for cooling music to take the edge off the heat.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most went for songs or pieces that either directly described chilliness or had the chilliness in their titles. Here are a handful:

1. John M went with a bit of cold-war-era Elton John, Nikita. Sitting in an open-top Rolls Royce in the snow is guaranteed to send an icy shiver down your spine:

2. Anna C chose some more solo piano music, The Snow Is Dancing from Children’s Corner by Debussy. She admits that having listened to it again she still feels too hot, but I just tried it and felt instantly cooler (apart from during that more agitated bit in the middle). You decide:

3. John also put Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain by The Cascades up for consideration, but for me personally this was more evocative of sitting in a tent wondering if it’ll ever be possible to pack up the bike and leave without getting soaked. Especially the crack of thunder that comes right at the start. So maybe that is a cooling thought after all. Ah, clever.

4. John’s pick did give me a chance to sneak in one more sightly weird suggestion of my own, however. Ralph McTell, whose big hit was Streets Of London, also wrote this miniature gem from a gentler time, Kew Gardens, evoking a summer afternoon in the shade of that beautiful spot, and kindly included a sudden downpour to cool things off a bit. It was written all of fifty-seven years ago, but still sounds as fresh as a daisy:

5. Anna C also wanted to share a very evocative work by Vaughan-Williams, his Sinfonia Antartica, which feels like the soundtrack to a magnificent and awesome ice-scape. I think it’s a very cooling scenario, but also a touch life-threatening?

It’s been brilliant listening to all of these, thanks so much for sending them. Any more?? Message here or try WhatsApp. I could do this all day.

HEATWAVE UPDATE

I arrived at Beechwood Park School this morning, where I’ve taught one day a week for nearly 20 years, and as I hopped off the bike I noticed the temperature had already reached 23ºC at just after 7am, making it officially the hottest of over 500 of these morning rides I’ve ever done.

Still not quite in the same league as the stats from the very last morning in Florida 2013…

ONE LAST THING

Susie and I sat in a packed but thankfully very cool Wigmore Hall last night, listening to some of the most astonishingly beautiful violin playing we’ve heard in a while. Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien played the last three Beethoven sonatas, ending with the highlight, No.9 the Kreutzer sonata. The slow movement of this piece, I thought to myself during the performance, makes a late dash for the title of ‘most sublime and cooling movement for violin and piano’. Amazingly, she recorded this very piece live at the Wigmore back in 2011, so I can almost share the exact experience with you all now. Except that last night she played on gut strings and the grand piano was replaced by a historical replica of a fortepiano.