Summer

(with apologies to Madame Boffin)

Summer is definitely on it's way. When the wind blows it has a distinctively warm edge now, particularly in the evenings as I make my way home.

Pretty soon it will be warm enough for me to bring out my t-shirt collection, which will soon encompass and take over the world, seeing as I went through a phase of buying a t-shirt for every gig I went to. If it gets really hot, I may even wear board shorts -- but that's unlikely. It's hard to imagine that only last week we were having freak blizzards and hail storms -- and may continue to for a few months yet.

As I walked to get my lunch today -- enjoying the few moments of sunshine I get while in work (now I see why you have a convertible, Baron Hashbrown) -- I was remembering the summers of when I was younger. The first days of the year when we would be allowed to play on the school field. Holding buttercups under your friend's chin to see if it glows ("you like butter"), looking for four-leaf clovers (and never ever finding one), freshly cut grass and your dad struggling to push a roller up and down the garden.

Bank holidays where the world smells of barbecues, crunchy sausages and baked potatoes -- and being terrified of wasps (not much changes there). Carnivals and town fetes and entertainment from hospital radio -- way back before it even occurred to you buy beer from the supermarket and take it to the park.

Short-sleeved shirts and tank tops and being made to wear shorts to school (but still having to wear a tie every day), waiting all year for six weeks off school. Sleeping in a tent in the garden (okay, sometimes I still do that), or just setting up a tent in the garden during the day but still sleeping indoors at night.

But now I have to admit that I've grown up. I'm 26, I work in insurance, and my lunch break is over so I have to get back on with filing. I might add to this later if I think of it.