It’s October. Oh Lord, help me. Let me just say that again so it sinks down deep into your diaphragm and resonates through your chesticles. OC-TO-BER. And even after 8 years of living here, I have to learn and re-learn a lesson that October seems to usher into the front of my forgetful mind. You are a fool to hope for summer in England. A fool. A naive, idealistic, mis-informed fool. This year I was waiting for October. We had such a rainy summer and I was clinging tightly to the hope that this year could be like last. Because last year at this time we had a late surge of summer. I was still on maternity leave and The Duchess and I would laze around the house until lunchtime. We would pack up a picnic and meet The Native in the park and sit in the sunshine. Those couple of weeks early in October made the prior months tolerable….kind of.
But this year? I give you the 5-day forecast:
There is so much rain AccuWeather has had to come up with new and exciting ways of explaining it so that it looks like there is actual variety in British weather.
It is October and all signs point to that slow descent into the winter months. I normally love autumn and its thick jumpers, hot drinks, and seasonal traditions. I don’t love autumn when I have been doing 2 of those 3 things over the summer. I can feel the winter darkness of 5pm taking over my soul and the bronze-skinned woman who once made an annual appearance is shrivelling and dying somewhere deep inside of me.
I need sun. I need it. Oh my word, do I need it.
So I’ve come up with working list of the things I’m going to trial if I can’t be guaranteed exposure to those golden rays for the next 5-6 months (read: EVER AGAIN) -
- Play Bob Marley’s album “Legend” on loop for the next 6 months
- Use coconut scented sun cream as my facial moisturizer.
- Wear my bikini under my thermals
- Take off my thermals, put on my sleep mask, crank up the thermostat to 90F, and “lay out” in my lounge. (Friends, who shall remain anonymous, have attempted this before).
- Sit with my toes in the sand of The Duchess’s Sand and Water play table.
- Bathtub wave pool, which involves joining The Duchess for her evening bath when she’s flailing around the tub like an overexcited sea otter.
- Hibernate Forever or…..
- Die. Can you trial dying?
Repeat after me: I am not wearing a sleep mask in my lounge in a bikini, I am on a Hawaiian beach. I AM on a Hawaiian beach.
Overexcited sea otter. I can definitely vouch for that one.
This made me chuckle, I remember when an Australian friend of mine moved to England, she basically said the same things as you just have, and I can’t blame either of you – I love the change of seasons, love the snow (when it falls and settles), I don’t even mind winter in England that much (you know what you are going to get!), but it was summer that drove me nuts! You could never plan for anything – bbq’s always ended with everyone crowded into the house….
Anyway, we’ve moved to Northern Australia now, where it’s 24C all winter long and me (and my Australian wife) are much happier for it (if you can deal with the mosquitoes and humidity in summer – can’t have everything I suppose).
Oh, and my Australian friend’s solution was to hibernate during winter. Good luck!
You are right. It is that raised expectation and hope you can make something wonderful of that supposedly warm season and then all that gets flushed straight down the loo during your indoor BBQ.
I want to know who has tried that bikini in the lounge thing. My first bet is KC. Could totally see her doing that! Lol.
Why did my word get highlighted and taken to a gambling site?! Ridic! I did not do that!
Again!??!
Um, if by gambling you mean your blog, then I have no idea. How could “they?!”
I feel your pain!! Last winter was such a sucker punch after that gorgeous warm and bright autumn trickery. But I’m feeling oh-so-wise and prepared this year, with my ‘happy light’ ready to go, cupboards stocked with warm drinks, and a stack of good books to read. Yeah, right, by December I’ll be completely mental once again … bikinis in the lounge for everyone!
Maybe my friend was on to something. Indoor Bikini Beach Parties are going to be the done thing for Winter 2012. You mark my words.
The Bob CD and coconut smelling cream is a good start to uplifting yourself. I find ginger scented creams are lovely too.
Good tip! I’ve only eaten ginger biscuits when I was pregnant, but I am willing to try anything! Hope you are well. xoxo