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Sizzling '76: Shorts, standpipes and sunglasses

@spotlyte1 Holiday snaps of @youngphysio on Great Yarmouth beach@spotlyte1
Michelle Young, @youngphysio on Twitter, enjoyed the sun and sand in Great Yarmouth

As the UK continues to experience a heatwave, social media has been awash with views of parched landscapes, people and animals cooling down, and various beach scenes.

This week has seen the hottest day of 2018 so far, with the Met Office recording 33.3C in Suffolk - still a way off the all-time high of 38.5C (101F) in Kent in August 2003.

This hot spell has spurred some of you to dig out old photos from the heatwave of 1976, back when eggs were fried on car bonnets and the air was filled with flying ants.

Nicola Williams Nicola Williams aged three posing in shorts, sunglasses and wellington boots.Nicola Williams
Nicola Williams aged three: "The wellies and knee socks were all my own idea. Sunglasses model's own"

Despite the scorching weather, Lorraine Badcock's mum decided to dress her baby daughter in an outfit of dress, tights and mob cap.

Lorraine Badcock Lorraine Badcock aged around nine months old during the summer of 1976.Lorraine Badcock
Lorraine Badcock: "My mum still can't decide why she dressed me in this outfit"

Whilst many had fun in the sun wearing knitted bikinis and frilly sunhats, the more serious side to the heatwave was water usage restrictions and standpipes on the streets.

Two women holding buckets to get water from standpipes on the street
In 1976 some households were without running water, which meant getting supplies from standpipes

In pictures: The dried parks and parched lawns of Britain

How long will it last? Your heatwave questions

Jon in Bristol remembers how his school gave out stickers to put on our toilets at home, which read: "Don't flush the loo more than you have to."

In a nod to the drought, Lara's dad used his creative skills to come up with tap and water tank fancy dress outfits for his children.

Lara Slater Youngsters dressed up as a tap and a hot water tankLara Slater
Lara's dad made these fancy dress costumes during the drought

Meanwhile, some children yearned for a dip in a pool, in Christopher Higgins' case, a nice, safe paddling pool, away from creatures of the sea as depicted on his Jaws T-shirt.

"We stayed at a caravan site in Cleethorpes used by working class mining families from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire," Christopher told the BBC.

"They were the best holidays ever."

Christopher Higgins Christopher Higgins standing on a chair, wearing a Jaws T-shirt: caption: "We're going to need a bigger paddling pool"Christopher Higgins
"We're going to need a bigger paddling pool" Christopher Higgins on holiday in Cleethorpes in 1976

Some were happy to spend plenty of time on the beach, or in Jeremy's case, day after day of the summer of '76 in the back garden on his tricycle.

Julia Gahagan Jeremy on his tricycle in his back garden in 1976Julia Gahagan
A young Jeremy spent a lot of time in the back garden

Produced by Sherie Ryder, UGC and Social News team.