Finding the Sydney heat stifling? Harden up, say workers As the mercury continues to rise, Dad and Dave Turf owner Graeme Colless has a message for sweltering Sydneysiders going home tonight: you are all soft with no heart. The turf supply tsar and his team were laying out the new 14,000 square metre surface of St John's Oval at Sydney University today. He had little time for pale-skinned, soft-bellied sooks whingeing about the heat. The temperature hit 37.3 degrees in Sydney, short of the forecast of 39 degrees, but still the third hottest October day on record. Large crowds were expected at the city's beaches, as workers sought to take advantage of the start of daylight saving at the weekend. Sydney Trains operations director Tony Eid promised central business district commuters that water misting equipment would be deployed on Thursday afternoon at Town Hall and Wynyard stations and station staff would be handing out bottled water across the network. When asked about Sydneysiders' complaints about the heat today, Mr Colless' chestnut brown face looked askance, as north-westerly winds drier than a great aunt's kiss whipped up the dust around him. "Harden Up": Graeme Colless of Dad and Dave Turf. "They have got no heart, mate," he said. " I deadset mean it. We have been here since 6am; half my crew is back on the farm cutting up more turf for tomorrow and I've got blokes and girls going hell for leather. We have a break every half hour for water and barrels of Gatorade. If half the country had half a go like my team this country would be all right. At the Eveleigh locomotive blacksmithing bay in Sydney's Redfern, Guido Gouverneur also was dismissive of the temperature outside his forge. Working with a furnace which reaches a maximum 1300 degrees celsius does tend to put the hot October day into perspective. Asked about the gradations of heat generated by the forge, he smiled. "Oh that would be snowball, he said "It's a dazzling white heat - we call it snowball to show we have no fear." At Clovelly, no snow was falling, but the white concrete slabs abutting the water were sparkling. Bathers lay prone with no fear of the sun above or the hot concrete cooking them from underneath. Ally Gardiman, 19, of Haberfield, was sunbathing with the three Chehab brothers of Drummoyne, all students. I like the concrete because no sand sticks to you. It's so problematic. Luckily for Ally and her mates, Graeme Colless wasn't nearby to hear her complaints.