Old-timers wonder what all the fuss is about

AS the sun beats down on Penrith’s bowling green – another scorching 38C day out west – Donald “Dizzy” Davis and Gary Adnum (left) speak on behalf of many locals who say their message to soft Sydneysiders is this: “Harden up”.

“You don’t hear people in Penrith complaining about it, most people here learn to accept it,” said Mr Adnum, 75.

“When I was first here in 1962 we had temperatures the same and we had no air conditioning or anything like that. Life’s a lot easier now.”

Mr Davis, 75, still spends at least 15 hours a week bowling in the heat. He said weather whingers need to “grow up”.

Sweat, sunscreen and sleepless nights are part and parcel of living in Penrith, which reportedly became the “hottest place on Earth” when temper- atures peaked at a recordbreaking 47.3C on January 7.

Western Sydney University professor James Arvanitakis from the institute for culture and society said people who lived in hot climates such as Penrith were more aware of their surroundings and therefore better able to adapt.

Constantly organising their schedules around the weather makes residents better planners when it came to their everyday lives.

University of Sydney associate professor in thermoregulatory physiology Ollie Jay said healthy people who were consistently exposed to hot environments could see their core temperature drop by as much as 0.3C.

“Your body will adapt a little bit. It will mean that you’ll sweat more and your core temperature will be a little lower as well,” he said.

“But that’s only going to happen if you really expose yourself to that environment. If you work in an office next door to a gym you don’t get big muscles, you have to go in there and use the weights.”

WEATHER WHINGERS NEED TO “GROW UP” DONALD “DIZZY” DAVIS