A friend of mine who lives in sunny foreign parts, you know one of those places of dreams with wall-to-wall sunshine? Said to me only this week, all the Brits do is moan about the UK weather. But I have to say this year they are totally within their rights as it is shocking.
And that folks just about sums up our summer!
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Rubbish!
This year I was so hopeful, I had stocked up on pretty things for garden dining and long summers evenings from TKMaxx.Â
And it feels as if said garden purchases has been gloating at me from the kitchen cupboards. As I hopefully, and desperately, check out the weather every morning. Just wishing for a couple of days of sunny weather.Â
Ok, ok, we may have had the odd half-day here and there. Sunny mornings or afternoons where if you find a spot in a shaded corner we can half pretend it feels like summer. But not the heat wave we have been promised! Or of course the days when you have plans and can’t drop everything and enjoy the sun.
But there has not been one single chance for a BBQ, not one!
So on Sunday I decided that come hell or high water we were BBQing. I was using my much-coveted garden goodies no matter what. And as I head to the butchers the dubious dark cloud was taunting me through my rear view mirror, almost willing me to give up cook a roast dinner and accept defeat.
But I persevered made a delicious salad and home-made wedges and Chris put a rack of ribs on the BBQ. I filled my new pineapple gin glasses with my latest favourite gin and sat out. It wasn’t boiling hot, but it was warm. And it made me realise that sometimes you just have to force the issue. It would have been so easy to give up, to store my new outdoor plates and colourful cushions away and wait! But life is for living and living up North means wear a jacket if it’s not warm enough! Because you just might wait forever for a hot sunny day.
And do you know what? When you are 11 it’s not about how hot it is?  It’s the adventure of setting up the BBQ, the memories you create with you family. And if that’s not a good enough reason to wear a sweater and sit in the sun then I don’t know what is?