This past winter lasted a really long time. Now, the sun is back and the wind is less. There’s something refreshing about summertime, particularly if you live in a place that’s quite drastic with the four seasons. People sometimes say they hate it when it’s too hot or too cold, that they just want a moderate, normal temperature. However, when you’ve experienced the cold or heat for so long, you just may find yourself loving the opposite temperature when it arrives.

I’ve been in England for the past week and I was astonished at how it was still so cold at the brink of June! At the start of the trip, I preparedly uttered ‘it’s summer, how is it still so cold?’ Then someone reminded me that technically, summer officially starts towards the end of June. Sure, summer may officially start then, but I checked the London weather forecast before my trip, and it was similar to New York (which was finally warming up) - one thing I didn’t take into account was the immense, high-powered wind! The best indicator of how spontaneous a city’s weather can be is when you see people wearing puffer vests and others, shorts and tees at the same time. The thing about England is not even the cold can take away its spectacularity. A few days into the trip, the sun’s warmth showed up, animating the afternoon, brightening the streets, and rejuvenating everyone’s energy.

Growing up in Nigeria made me appreciate summer even more. It’s an incredibly, almost ceaselessly hot country, particularly in the south. Sure there’s Harmattan and the chilled moments up North but it’s for a relatively short period compared to the sunny months. The lovely thing about sunny weather is that you may tend to crave being outside more, which of course has the benefits of being able to do things like choosing to eat outside when in a restaurant, be by a body of water without the habitual shiver, or just laying somewhere and letting the sun do its thing. It’s interesting how we find ourselves complaining when we see too much of a specific weather for an extended time; by the third month of New York winter, everybody was already tired, but then towards the start of fall, many find themselves craving winter.

So, here comes the sun, ready to grill, shine, and thrive. I hope you’re ready to embrace it with open arms!

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Forever thankful for the sun’s heat.

Until the next one

- C