We despaired for so long because the sun refused to appear. Now summer’s here it’s apparent that we’d forgotten the dangers of heat waves.

End Game was thinking about leaving the office and heading home, and maybe taking the children for a trip around the sun-drenched garden on the ride-on mower, when our daydream was rudely interrupted by a press release from Wales’s Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board.

Dean Boyce, consultant plastic surgeon at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital, said: “We would warn people to avoid letting anyone ride on their lap for fun because in fact this is very dangerous, as the mower’s safety cut out will not engage if they fall off.”

End Game decided to confine its ambition to settling down with a cool beer.

But the hospital’s emergency medicine consultant Mike McCabe had news for us.

If we didn’t drink enough water as well, “there is a risk of dehydration and the onset of acute gout and kidney stones, in those prone to these conditions”.

Oh well, thought End Game, perhaps we’ll just play with the dog instead.

But Tom Potokar, consultant burns and plastic surgeon, said: “Dogs can get very irritable in hot weather because unlike us, they can’t take their coats off.

“People may give their pet a hug and the dog may snap because it is too hot, and the resulting bites can be quite serious.”

End Game is currently doing a rain dance.