As I stood at the exit of Tottenham Court Road station, waiting at the traffic lights under the full glare of the sun, I looked up at the billboard for The Devil Wears Prada musical. My face was burning in the heat, and the combination of the blazing sunshine, the high temperature, and the diabolical advertisement felt somewhat infernal. It seemed as though the green light would never come and that I would be stranded there forever, unable to cross the road and reach the welcome shade on the other side. Eventually, however, the lights changed, and I continued on my way.

The rest of my walk to Bloomsbury to meet Ms F was mostly shaded, although it still took me a little longer than usual in the heat. When I arrived, Ms F excitedly informed me that her favourite supermarket, Waitrose, had just reopened following a refurbishment. Apparently, there were giveaways and food tastings taking place to celebrate the reopening, but all I was interested in was the air conditioning.

I was welcomed into Waitrose by a blast of cool air - though not quite as cool as I had hoped - and an entirely new store layout. While the redesign was arguably more intuitive, it made finding oatcakes surprisingly difficult. The promised freebies were nowhere to be seen. And then came the final blow: the cheese counter ceased to exist. No more Cornish Yarg for Ms F!

Once I had worked out where everything (apart from the cheese) was, I found myself carrying a six-pack of 1.5-litre bottles of Buxton water in one hand and almost the same weight in groceries in the other. Together, they amounted to at least a third of my body weight. The climb to Ms F's flat on the fifth floor was much easier than anticipated, given the heat. Sadly, no amount of resilience and physical fitness could compensate for the loss of the cheese counter.