London, United Kingdom – “At midnight yesterday, the temperature in my home was 31 degrees, which I could not control,” said Bijal Shah, a pharmacist who has spent the past fortnight trying and failing to buy a portable air conditioning unit or even an industrial fan to cool his five-month-old grandson who is unwell.Some cooling items have waits of two to three weeks for delivery, a real challenge for families like his who are caring for someone vulnerable.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listIt is a small but telling detail in a week when Britain has broken a June heat record that had stood since 1976. A homeless person sleeps in a shaded London doorway amid record high temperatures [Toby Melville/ReutersThe mercury hit 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, the hottest day of the month ever recorded in the UK.The Met Office has a red extreme heat warning running across large areas of southern England and there is a possibility that temperatures could reach 40C before the week is out.“We’ve not had a surge in enquiries or requests for prescription deliveries,” said Shah from behind the counter in his air conditioned pharmacy, as he dispenses supplements to a heavily pregnant lady keeping cool with a fan around her neck. “Not as much as I thought we would have”.More than 1,000 schools across southern England have shut early or closed entirely this week. One in Taunton, in the southwest, told parents that the conditions made it “increasingly difficult to ensure the wellbeing, comfort and safety” of pupils and staff. Advertisement Soaked through after an hour’s work, Peter Wride, a gardener, recalled the 1976 heatwave.“We survived t …
