We all know that, traditionally, summer is a bad time to move house.

School holidays mean that the usual pool of potential buyers poised and ready to get drawn into a bidding war is much reduced, with many vendors opting to put their house sale on hold until September when real life resumes, particularly within the family market.

According to the latest House Price Index, things may not be as bleak as we might expect however, with prices in St Albans creeping up by 0.9 per cent in May – a rise of 2.9 per cent over the previous 12 months. This follows a fall in prices in March and April. Could it be that the local property market’s turned a corner and is going to be as bright as the weather this summer? Given its recent randomness, it’s impossible to predict.

As above, one thing we can definitely count on at the moment is sun, humidity and everyone moaning about how hot they are. Our aircon-free homes aren’t designed to cope with anything other than freezing cold misery, meaning it’s been all about sleepless nights and hurried fan purchases, at our house at least.

We held off on buying fans as there was no way this heatwave was going to last, was there? Except it was 32 degrees today and is showing no sign of switching into a traditional English summer of grey skies and showers anytime soon.

Finding my son sleeping under an open window, on the relative cool of the landing, outside his baking hot room, made me invest in a much-needed uber-fan - but it mainly seems to waft the warm air about.

It’s an improvement on stagnant stuffiness, mind.

Here’s hoping the temperatures dip to a warm but manageable 22 degrees at some point soon, or the challenge posed by the school holidays will be even more enormous (and that’s without a house move in the pipeline).