Baking hot sun all day and air-conditioned rooms for when we weren’t outside. Most holidaymakers just ignored these units, popping up everywhere but I didn’t. The roof space was covered in them; outdoor spaces always had an outdoor unit squeezed in – arguably they were needed to cool the buildings. But I didn’t see a single solar PV unit, nor a wind turbine to harness the afternoon breeze that invariably picked up.

This impression left me in little doubt, the UK runs a risk of fighting the right battle but at the wrong time.

Reducing carbon levels in our atmosphere is the global target and the UK should play its role in achieving this goal. But the UK contributes around 0.8 per cent of global carbon emissions each year, so is reducing this to zero the priority for now?

We are experiencing, this summer, what climate scientists predicted – hotter temperatures than we are used to and for what our public infrastructure was designed to cope with. Last winter, we experienced the high levels of rainfall and flooding that once again, climate scientists forecast. And even if the UK were to eliminate its carbon emissions overnight, 99.2 per cent of emissions would still cause our climate to change. We can spend billions squeezing down that 0.8 figure but still suffer all the consequences of global climate change.

UK households’ risk being sold a lie, and I have seen how this argument plays out, that somehow if the UK gets to net zero all our problems will be over. It is a lie. We might need to mitigate our own levels but the priority for this country is to protect itself from the consequences of climate change. If money were no object, perhaps we could do both but you and I know that’s not the reality we are living in and importantly, voters don’t believe it either. They want money spent on defence; they want a great NHS and prisoners kept locked away. Students want fees abolished; we want more police on the streets and social care needs to be funded. Against this backdrop, adaptation funding is arguably a greater priority at this moment in time.