'I've actually got the electric fan out the cellar,' puffed Riitta, from the Karjasilta area. 'The last time I needed it was two years ago. It's been down there ever since and when I got it out last night it didn't work and I don't know why!'
The heatwave comes at a time when Finnish medical expert Prof. Pekka Puska is publicly recommending that everybody avoid soft drinks and energy drinks and that people under fifteen, in particular, should avoid coffee.
'Parents should restrict consumption of lemondade to just once a week,' he told YLE. The best way to quench your thirst, he insists, is tap water 'which is of the highest quality in Finland.'
Not to be put off, Riikka, 28 from Maikkula, has worked out how to make ice tea for the first time, as she's found herself drinking so much over the last few days. 'It's pretty simple. About two tea bags, a litre of boiling water, a litre of cold water, the juice of a lemon and a decilitre of sugar. And maybe some mint . . .'
'I'm just doing the garden at the moment,' panted Pekka, also from Karjasilta. 'But keep having to stop for a drink! I'm not getting anything done!'
At 25 degrees and with humidity at 43 percent, the city is experiencing it's hottest late June in three years. The drenching heat will last until Sunday - when, despite it being 23 degrees, there is a twenty percent chance of rain - and then carry on into next week with it being 24 degrees on Monday and a green-house like eighty percent humidity.
