Not a pretty sight! So a big welcome back to our old friend, Monsieur Sun! Yes, a rare visitor to the UK so far this Summer. Who can ever forget the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, octo and nono-genarians respectively, standing stoically by for over two hours whilst barge after barge sailed past them in the freezing rain, peopled by hundreds of their loyal, bedraggled subjects, cheering, waving Union-Jacks and singing anthems of national pride? The occasion became quite surreal at times, almost a satyrical look at us British! On Diamond Jubilee Day, we wandered up the road to our local street party with a plate of cakes to offer round. Typically for us, we were a little late arriving and most of the children had by then consumed their jelly and ice-cream, undoubtedly fuelling-up on enough sugar to launch themselves into the stratosphere and had mostly disappeared indoors to play computer games - leaving the adults to stand around in the icy wind and rain! Actually, the occasion was very nice, well organised and it was great to meet people who live on our road. And being someone who actually quite likes their own species, I'm delighted to say I now have a few more people to say hello to whenever I nip down the road for a pint of milk.
The sun has a funny effect on us Brits, who immediately want to strip-off, exposing our lily-white bodies to its rays, and soak it up with a quite comical zeal. I recall being at a hotel in Dubrovnik (Croatia being a country that gets some serious sun!) a few years back during the month of August, where a couple from Newcastle (a place not widely know for sun) arrived mid-week and proceeded to spend every daylight hour of the next five days lying flat-out by the pool sun-bathing. Despite turning as red as the proverbial beetroot they remained 'happy as Larry', and I sincerely hope they didn't see my wife and I (who thought they should've been hospitalised in a severe burns unit) wince every time we dared venture out from the protection of our sun shade.
Being of Welsh origin, I am of course a special case when it comes to the sun. Coming from a land where it tends to rain about 300 days out of the annual allotted span of 365 (301 in leap years!) I don't think my epidermis ever really got acclimatised to sun. In bygone days, although my head appeared to boast chestnut coloured locks my hair actually had quite a lot of red in it - an unfortunate combo, pale white skin, reddish colouring and an upbringing in aforementioned rainy Wales. Brown is not a colour my skin has ever known. After exposure to the sun I tend to look like someone with extremely high blood pressure - this generally lasts about a week before I turn white again. I once worked in North Africa for several months and after arriving home was in danger of seeming invisible if I happened to be found standing in front of a pillar-box!
However, I do love it. I got out of bed this morning, saw the glorious light streaming in through the bedroom window and thought, "Carpe diem!" I dug out a pair of shorts (first time this year!), carefully avoiding the glare from the whiteness of my legs for fear of being temporarily blinded, and happily set to work. As I type this blog my legs are dangling out from the hems of my shorts like a couple of uncooked pork sausages, but I remain unashamed! I am British, it's the summer, and I'll even wear socks with sandals if I want to!
The sun has a funny effect on us Brits, who immediately want to strip-off, exposing our lily-white bodies to its rays, and soak it up with a quite comical zeal. I recall being at a hotel in Dubrovnik (Croatia being a country that gets some serious sun!) a few years back during the month of August, where a couple from Newcastle (a place not widely know for sun) arrived mid-week and proceeded to spend every daylight hour of the next five days lying flat-out by the pool sun-bathing. Despite turning as red as the proverbial beetroot they remained 'happy as Larry', and I sincerely hope they didn't see my wife and I (who thought they should've been hospitalised in a severe burns unit) wince every time we dared venture out from the protection of our sun shade.
Being of Welsh origin, I am of course a special case when it comes to the sun. Coming from a land where it tends to rain about 300 days out of the annual allotted span of 365 (301 in leap years!) I don't think my epidermis ever really got acclimatised to sun. In bygone days, although my head appeared to boast chestnut coloured locks my hair actually had quite a lot of red in it - an unfortunate combo, pale white skin, reddish colouring and an upbringing in aforementioned rainy Wales. Brown is not a colour my skin has ever known. After exposure to the sun I tend to look like someone with extremely high blood pressure - this generally lasts about a week before I turn white again. I once worked in North Africa for several months and after arriving home was in danger of seeming invisible if I happened to be found standing in front of a pillar-box!
However, I do love it. I got out of bed this morning, saw the glorious light streaming in through the bedroom window and thought, "Carpe diem!" I dug out a pair of shorts (first time this year!), carefully avoiding the glare from the whiteness of my legs for fear of being temporarily blinded, and happily set to work. As I type this blog my legs are dangling out from the hems of my shorts like a couple of uncooked pork sausages, but I remain unashamed! I am British, it's the summer, and I'll even wear socks with sandals if I want to!
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