Hot

In London, where any temperature above 80DEG is called a heat wave, it was so hot last week that ten extra waiters were engaged to serve cooling drinks to perspiring legislators in the House of Commons terrace restaurant. A woman fainted from heat in a Gravesend bus and, as her collapse wedged her inextricably between the seats, the whole bus had to be driven to the hospital. An unseasonable drought half ruined the strawberry crop (strawberries and clotted Devonshire cream is a favorite English dish this time of year), but the countryside had seldom looked greener. Elsewhere in Europe the heat wave also spread:

In The Netherlands, where De Bilt Observatory labels any temperature above 88DEG as "tropical," the thermometer registered 93DEG. At The Hague, retired Dutch colonials got out their old tropical outfits, relics of Java days; schools were closed afternoons, and young boys stripped and dived into the city's canals to cool off. The Hague used 50% more water than usual.

Belgium suffered at 95DEG, and only Congo officials home on leave thought the temperature bearable. Lack of rain hurt the Belgian fruit crop. Karlstad, Swedish manufacturing town, had the hottest weather for Scandinavia (86DEG), and Stockholm consumed 183,400 cubic meters (48,417,600 gallons) of water in one day. Drought meant bad crops and forest fires for Sweden. Copenhagen reported three deaths from sunstroke.

In Poland, with the heat at 90DEG, seven persons drowned while bathing in the Vistula. In Moscow, where fortnight ago overcoats were still in order, the temperature rose to 79DEG. The temperature reached 93DEG in France, sending practically all of Paris to sipping beer and lemonade in outdoor cafes or to swimming in the dozens of floating pools in the Seine. Mid-week thunder showers brought relief.

A German heat wave was too much for the "volunteers" home from Spain. As they paraded by their sweating Fuehrer, many of them fainted. The asphalt on Berlin's Via Triumphalis was so soft that no tanks or cars with caterpillar treads were allowed on the avenue. For the second time Fuehrer Hitler blossomed out in the new white ceremonial jacket which correspondents labeled the "Axis coat," since it first appeared at the signing of the Italian-German alliance.

In Spain, diplomats have moved from Burgos, which Spaniards claim is Spain's hottest spot in summer and coldest in winter, to San Sebastian, on the Bay of Biscay, and Generalissimo Franco planned to pass the summer in a new seaside home presented to him by the nation near his birthplace at El Ferrol, in Galicia, recently renamed El Ferrol del Caudillo in his honor.

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