15/06/2013

The Good Ol' British Summer


I'm trying to ignore the fact that it's mid-June and I am considering digging out my winter coat from the cupboard. As much as I do love the old bean (plum coloured perfection if I do say so myself), my leather jacket hasn't had as much exposure this season as I would have liked it too. Plus I'd much rather be strolling around the streets in...well, very little, thank you very much. It was literally a week ago when I was sitting on the grass with my friends discussing sex Machiavelli (or something equally as intelligent), basking in the sunshine and abusing our iPhone cameras. Then just like that - though in a very standard English manner - the next day greeted us with a rather pleasant bout of torrential rain and tornado-like winds. My body genuinely doesn't know how to feel anymore! *sighs epically*  And so folks, this blog post is seemingly transforming itself into the Londoner's guide to Moaning About The 'Summer'.

Step 1: Set up your Yahoo weather app to show you the current temperature in London, Los Angeles and The Caribbean. You know, just in case you don't feel shit enough already.

Step 3: Tell your friends to man up and buy festival tickets. Claim it'll probably rain the whole time anyway and give up on the idea almost immediately.

Step 2: Walk into Primark and cry at the fact that almost everything is short sleeved, cropped or strapped and how you'll never get a chance to wear any of it. Ever.

Step 4: Grumble about the fact that it's always cold in London. When the sun comes out, stay indoors and play video games. Grumble about the weather again when it rains the next day.

Just to clarify (rather unproudly), I have probably been guilty of carrying out these actions at least thrice once in my life - it's just one of those things that comes with being British. The truth is, we Brits are so unaccustomed to good weather  ("What is this...sun you speak of? Is it a type of beverage?") that the moment we get a hint of warmth we flock outside in our bikinis and our flip flops, sprawl ourselves on the nearest patch of grass/pavement/person we can find and bake. All. Flipping. Day. Out come the pasty legs, the factor 50 sun cream, the beers, the frisbees, and all the freakin' insects that come along with the warm weather. Freakin' insects.

As much as I do adore the sunshine, I find all the exaggeration a little bit...awkward. In my first year of university I, being the lover of all things 'unique and interesting', decided to join the women's rugby team (absolutely insane idea as I was probably the tallest, lankiest and weakest little shit they'd ever encountered). Every year the sports teams at the university organise a tour in a foreign country which usually consists of 6.5 days of alcohol-fueled adventures and 0.5 playing the actual sport. This particular year, tour was to be held in a small provincial town somewhere near Rome, Italy. Although my memory of that holiday is considerably hazy, what I do remember is as soon as we arrived and settled ourselves in, we did as all white English girls would do - we stripped off and tottered over to the beach. Now bear this in your minds; it was mid-April, the temperature was about 15 degrees, and most Italians were wearing coats. Us on the other hand whipped out the bikinis and spent the rest of the day lying on the (rather windy) beach. To us, it was heaven; to the Italians it was probably the oddest behaviour they'd encountered in a while.

But hey, I'm not complaining; when the sun's out in London everyone is actually happy. People hang out by Camden lock eating crappy chinese food and drinking beer, everyone suddenly remembers that Frapuccino's exist, wannabe gangsters blast music from their speeding cars, people actually smile at you on public transport (okay, too far, but you catch my drift). Considering that about 90% of our yearly weather is dire, it's so refreshing seeing humans cheer up once in a while.

And for those who genuinely can't be assed to wait for a sunny day to come upon us, there is always abroad. Yes, after much deliberating, me and Nat have finally booked a holiday. We're going to Sorrento! Despite visiting once before at the tender age of 14, I don't remember much due to the fact that a) I was 14, and b) I was with a bunch of Polish kids so I was terribly drunk 98% of the time. From what I do remember it is a wonderful place full of culture, fantastic scenery and good food. We also managed to book a hotel with a picturesque view of Vesuvius from the balcony, so providing it doesn't spontaneously decide to erupt after 70 years, I think it'll be an enjoyable holiday. I'll probably be taking pictures of everything, stationary and mobile, that I can find so I'll post them all up upon my return.

Are you guys going away anywhere? Let me know!

xox

6 comments:

  1. This blog is coming along nicely :) this was a good read! does going to somewhere in the UK count as away?

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    1. Yeah man! Of course it counts :) where? xx

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  2. I appreciate your organility

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    1. Thanks so much! Your style is amazing by the way, I don't know who takes your photographs but they are wonderful :) Pozdrowienia! xx

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  3. I freaking *love* what the blog looks like now. It's beautiful! Also, the way you describe London weather kind of makes me 100% sure I'll never go there to stay. (Visiting is a whole different story). I spent 16 years of my life in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and 5.5 years in Lebanon. I'm very much a sun baby. Without it, I think I'll go nuts!

    I graduated from AUB the day you wrote that post, come to think of it. As for travelling anywhere, it's back to Qatar with me in a month or so. Woo!!

    (Sorry if this is a double post, delete if my first one went through).

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    1. Aww thank you so much! It means so much that someone appreciates it as I spent soooo long on it haha.

      Surprisingly enough, we're having a massive heatwave in London at the moment, which is amazing considering I got back from Italy yesterday and was dreading post-holiday blues - instead I just managed to get some extra tanning in ha! This is a rarity though, so you should stick to the warm countries me thinks! :P

      Congrats on graduating (I'm not sure if I mentioned it already), and good luck with all your future goals! (I'm currently working on mine!)

      xox

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