It's hot but not that hot.

As you may have gathered, there are many things that irritate me.

Tattoos, the X Factor and personalised number plates to name but three.  More about them in weeks to come, but today's irritation is people who go on holiday and pretend that it's warmer than it really is.

Some friends of ours went to Ibiza a few years ago. They experienced a heatwave which was not reported in the newspapers. The shade temperature, every single day, was up around 47c.

Now that's Death Valley hot, stay in the apartment all day with the air conditioning on hot, it's call the doctor I have heat stroke hot.

But no, it was 47c in the shade and they spent every day by the pool.  Everyone else was suitably impressed.

I simply didn't believe them so I looked at a few weather websites.

And I was right: the hottest day that month saw temperatures of 29c.

Now 29c is still hot, very hot when you consider right now we are frying under shade temperatures in the high teens, low twenties but for some reason it's not regarded as being hot enough to report on.

I am a member of another Facebook group and today people were reporting that in a certain Greek island which I shall not name (Corfu) that by 9.00 am the shade temperature had already reached 29c.  Phew what a scorcher.

Astonishingly, four hours later and the temperature, as measured by Corfu airport was, er, still 29c!

I suspect the temperature reports emanate from the bloke who collects money for sun beds on the beach, or a bar owner who is keen to sell you more beer.  But it's rubbish.

Once, we really did arrive in Corfu to 42c, or so the BBC was saying, and it was insanely, awfully hot. It lasted one day until the temperatures plunged to a more manageable - but still steaming - 29c.

I didn't feel the need to tell everyone because hot is hot, especially when you come from England which is generally not hot, but why folk feel the need to convince us, and maybe themselves, that it's hotter than it really is I find very odd.