Sounds of summer

June 3, 2019 by Ray Morgan

On Saturday afternoon, I was lying in my garden in a deckchair. The sky was blue, there was a gentle breeze, everything smelled of suncream and warmth. We'd spent the morning buying plants and then putting them in their rightful places in the garden - hot, punishing work that was rewarded by a good couple of hours lying in the sun reading our books.

On the breeze, you could hear the sounds of summer in other people's lives. Cutlery being placed on outdoor tables. Sprinklers fizzing. Kids running about raucously. Our next door neighbours had friends over and we heard that unmistakeable summer sound: a cork popping outdoors.

I love how this weather puts people in a good mood. It's murder when you're working in a stuffy office, a kitchen, outside with no shade, a hot classroom etc... but when it's chill time and you get to just sit with a nice drink, some snacks, slathered in suncream and listening to birds tweeting and the gentle hush of the wind in the trees... it's just so nice. You're all warm and cossetted and you plan trips and eat watermelon straight from the fridge and think about doing your nails neon for once and are like Alexa, play DJ Jazzy Jeff... 

My instagram feed was awash this weekend with lovely pictures of my friends at the beach, at the park, sunny skies and sunglasses selfies - it's just so nice to see how happy the good weather makes people. It can feel like during winter you're cooped up a lot: which can be great don't get me wrong. I'm the first to obsess over red wine and blankets and knitting and candles when it's cold out. But there's something freeing about being let out into the world without jackets or socks on and it being warm and light right into the evening. Sandals get dusted off from their hibernation. The beach calls us: we're drawn magnetically to the shore, taking those endless shots of the late evening sun sparkling on the water.

It feels like a reward for all those months of cold faces, dry skin, woolly hats and stodge overload. We're able to eat light, be clothed in less, and feel the warmth of the sun on our skin which, on the right day at the right time, can make you feel so alive.