A group of eight men in their early 20s were enjoying a lunchtime beer in a dizzyingly hot, artificially turfed square outside the shopping centre. “We can’t afford AC yet,” one said, “that’s why we work in finance, so one day we can afford it!” Most of them had invested in a Dyson fan, which retail for between £300 and £600.

If the concern is a few really hot days, just doing one room should be viable. A small window unit should be pretty inexpensive.

checks

At Home Depot here in the US, a small window A/C unit is maybe $170.

I mean, sure. You can do a split mini to avoid blocking a window (or having to remove and remount the window unit every summer) and reduce noise, or do a major renovation and put in ducted central A/C. You can definitely spend considerably more than the bare minimum. But the bar to getting a air conditioned room in the house should really not be very high. And a premium fan of the sort that they’re buying isn’t comparable to central A/C either.