Soup and Sunshine
Friday, July 6, 2012 at 10:04 PM
I made a bowl of steaming hot soup for lunch today. As you do on a grisly winter’s day when it’s raining cats and dogs outside.
Only it’s not winter. It’s July.
The British summer has plumbed new depths this year, even by its own miserable standards. We’ve had dark grey skies and relentless rain for weeks now and there’s no forecast of a let-up. In fact, the prediction is this will go on for at least another MONTH! Which leaves us all rampantly jealous of anywhere in the world that has actual summer sunshine and a little bit of warmth.
It’s high time to compile a list of tips for urging a few sunbeams our way. Feel free to add to this list in the comments.
- Stop making steaming hot soup (this is a note to self). Chilled soups are allowed. And salad and bowls of strawberries and iced lemonade. Fake it till it’s real.
- Do a sun dance. It’s the opposite of a rain dance and far more useful in Britain. In fact, sun dancing should be a compulsory part of the school curriculum. Maybe we’d all be better at manifesting sunshine then.
- Make a summer word cloud (see above). Go to Wordle and type in a few summery words and phrases. Save the resulting cloud and use it as wallpaper on your desktop or print it out and hang it where you’ll see it frequently. Will the sunshine to appear.
- Practise gratitude for every weak glimmer of sunlight that falls across your path. Attract it, baby!
- Put a towel on the floor. Switch on every light in the room and don your sunglasses. Then lie on the towel (preferably clad in a bikini) and read a trashy novel. Pretend.
- Look at every photo you’ve ever taken in bright, summery sunshine (they were probably all taken abroad). Look at them for a loooong time. Until you’ve actually forgotten what the weather’s doing outside the window.
- Blast out your best summer play list and sing along very loudly. Defy the rain to fall.
- What the heck - just make the best of it. Have a picnic in the car. Go for a walk in the rain. Swim in the sea (well you were going to get wet anyway).
- Failing all that, make a bowl of steaming hot soup (I have a good recipe), light the fire and imagine it’s winter. A good imagination is not required. And see? Isn‘t it just a perfectly cosy winter‘s day?!
Reader Comments (2)
oh, i'm so sorry for all the rain you're receiving. but i just love your humor in the face of such wetness...
This was VERY fun, Helen! It's been very dreary, gray & rainy here in Norway, much like in the UK at the moment. We're still waiting for real summer to kick in! I will have to try the indoor beach idea with towel on the floor, sunglasses & light. We've been doing the car picnic a bit already and the whole faking it until it's real. If it's real in our mind it must be real in life, right? ;o) Happy Days ((HUGS))