If there’s one thing I’ve learned as I’ve got older, it’s that British summers aren’t what they used to be. Whether that’s a ‘me’ thing or not, they definitely feel hotter, stickier and far less tolerable. And while that might just sound like an excuse for a moan, it’s also a fact. Last year, the Met Office confirmed that 2023 was the UK’s second-hottest on record, suggesting that heatwaves are no longer a rarity – they’re becoming the new summer normal.
I don’t mind the warmer temperatures occasionally, but the problem is that our homes were never built for it. Designed to keep the heat in, the average UK house turns into what feels like a furnace when the mercury climbs. The upstairs in my house is especially bad – it gets like a sauna in summer since everything is open plan and I have no loft, just high ceilings, so the heat rises up the stairs and stays there. There have been more sleepless summer nights than I care to remember, where I’ve found myself lying awake, windows wide open, fan at full blast - sweating perpetually from a heat you just can’t escape from.
