What we should all be doing, though, is using the experience of the past three months to think about what sort of physical city we want to create as Bathurst’s growth spurt continues.

The summer just gone may not have set a temperature record – that came in February last year, when we reached an unBathurst-like 41.5 degrees – but it did feature heatwaves in January and February that, combined with extremely low rainfall, tested patience, nerves and gardens from one end of the city to the other.

In the CBD, where the majority of Bathurstians work, the tar, the parked cars, the cement and the unshaded spaces all seemed to combine to nudge already scorching temperatures up a degree or two.

But for relief, there was always Machattie Park and the Macquarie River reserves – cool, green spaces in the centre of the city, where summer’s dial could be turned down just a little bit.

Machattie and our other inner city parks Victoria and the (mostly unloved) Centennial were set aside at a time when the city occupied a much smaller area.

They offer something valuable and rare when it comes to urban living: green space; room to move.

Now, our population is spreading out in all directions. But are we providing the new green spaces to match that population increase?

The sea of houses marching across the landscape in Kelso, Eglinton and Windradyne show our city’s incredible popularity and its very strong future.

People want to live here. So many people want to live here that land is being developed and new houses are being built at a breakneck speed.

New communities are forming on the fringes that will eventually – as the population density demands it – have their own satellite shopping centres and their own facilities.

But a Bathurst with thousands of new residents will also need new parks – big green spaces for the people of the suburbs that perform the same function as Machattie or Victoria for the people in the centre.

The land set aside now will provide the shady space during the scorching summer in a decade’s time.

And those sitting in that shade will thank us for it.