I’ve recently returned from gloriously hot holiday in the Med. Show off, I hear you cry, but the reason I mention this is because the local population don’t use curtains as such, there is a sort of voile or light net curtain affair but not proper curtains you can pull across. I stay with an English pal who when moving out there twenty odd years ago took all her goods, chattels . . . and curtains with her. She’s definitely a creature of habit and still has the very same lined, slightly frumpy designed window dressings in the kitchen and very sunny office. It’s amazing how effective they are at reducing the glare and thus the temperature of each room without having to close the window shutters. Her neighbours, actually a mix of nationalities, always comment on how cool it feels in her kitchen. I’m surprised that those who have always lived in stifling heat haven’t thought of cutting it by the same inexpesive and very colourful means.