The Raggle Taggle Gypsy and the Hearty Goodwyfe - Or, Does Genetic Inheritance Form Physical Capability?

When we were first married the DH and I took a trip to Sorrento on the Amalfi coast. Whenever we went to a restaurant or shop the waiter or shop assistant would rattle onto the DH in Italian, simply because DH is so short, dark and curly-haired that they thought he was a native of Naples (they do the same in Spain), he looks as though he hails from the Med and not Northampton.

When you look at me you can tell that I'm English, and if not English then perhaps from Germany, or the Netherlands, or Denmark. I'm tallish (5'7"), heavy-ish, fair-skinned, blue eyed, stout of limb and hardy of body. There is no aristocratic frailty about me, I look like I could plough a field, and I probably could. Apart from yesterday, I don't think I could have ploughed a field yesterday, for yesterday I experienced heat exhaustion.

Now, we're having a heatwave in the UK, temperatures have hit the mid/high thirties and we're not used to it. I am not, and have never been "good" with heat, even as a child, even though I enjoyed the sunshine, I found real heat quite difficult to take and would often burn and throw up on our annual jaunt to Majorca. Yesterday, I did - as I normally do - a 3 mile school run (walking), went grocery shopping, dropped off some books and jam to a friend (walking) cooked tea, washed floors, folded laundry, vacuumed and the tutored in the evening. Towards the end of the day I began to feel distinctly ill; headachy, nauseous, fingers and ankles slightly swollen; it was so bad I could not eat my chicken salad, and that, gentle reader, proves without a shadow of a doubt, that I wasn't quite right. I was much better after I'd had a cold shower, a cool drink and had elevated my feet for an hour, but even so, the heat had affected me for the worse.

The DH loves this weather. He's like a lizard and thrives and basks in it. He comes home from work unusually chipper and suggests long, country walks. Indeed, when we visit my parents in Spain, whilst I sit quietly in the shade, he climbs mountains. The heat energises him, recharges his batteries, and brightens his personality. In short, the way the heat affects him is absolutely opposite to the way it affects me.

Here's the thing. The DH's maternal grandfather was proper Romany Gypsy, with a caravan and everything. This is why the DH is so dark, his genetic predisposition to dark skin and brown curls is because of the gypsy in him. Is there something about his genetic make-up that "remembers" an Egyptian past, that is to say, even though the DH's ancestors came to England hundreds of years ago, is there something about his genetic type which makes him not only resilient to heat, but to thrive in it?

Conversely, my maiden name is very English, it's an Old English word, and is also the name of a village not 15 miles from where I live. Is it possible that my ancestors, being quite the opposite to gypsies, have been Midlanders since the Anglo-Saxon times, staying put in cold, drizzly England for years and years? Is this why I find heat in England to be an abhorrence?

Now, these are just the musings of a heat addled brain, but I'm interested to see your experience of the heat. Are you dark and bask in it, like my DH? Or, are you fair and hate it, like me? Or, and I suppose this is more probable, you can simply take it or leave it?

Oh, and by the way, despite the DH's being a raggle taggle gypsy, he has never offered to read my palm, cook me a hedgehog, sell me some pegs or tarmac the drive (more's the pity). He does, however, do a mean David Essex impression. Enjoy the youtubery, goode huswives!