There’s something about this time of year that feels like a collective deep breath. Summer rushes by in a blur. Trips away. Exams looming. Teenagers drifting in and out with armfuls of washing. That familiar mantra of “I’ll just get through until September.” This year the heat dialled everything up. Heavy days that felt endless, sticky nights that kept sleep at arm’s length, and that low-level mutter of “I’ll be glad when it cools.”