@LaChasseuse

I used to live in Thailand where it gets properly hot! I saw the temperature sensor in the local air quality monitoring station climb to over 47°C (so 117°F). However the Thai government will not allow figures like that to be published for fear of putting off tourists!

I used to keep the aircon in the living room set to 26°C (79°F) the maximum temperature at which I didn't sweat too much indoors and in the bedroom to 30°C (86°F) but with the fan running at slow speed to keep the air moving - I found that perfectly comfortable like that sleeping under just a sheet.

Most Americans I knew over there used to run their aircon practically flat out so that inside their apartments, I'd be shivering, then they'd complain bitterly about the electricity bills they would receive as the aircon was costing them $100s per month!

@LaChasseuse

Madras back then (and maybe still) was definitely NOT a place you would want to be in the water on the foreshore, although a few brave or foolhardy locals were. The beach was mostly used as a public lavatory so you had to watch where you walked and a few 100 metres down the coast a substantial river sized open sewer carrying the untreated human waste from a city of around 5 million people flowed into the sea.