Forget everything you thought you knew about the British Summer. Forget whether or not you’ve been telling everyone that summer has truly arrived in London already. And forget about the heatwaves and glorious days out in the park you’ve had already. Because up until today, it hasn’t even been summer yet! Well, with today marking the summer solstice, now you can start talking about summer having begun.
The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, when the sun is at its highest point above us. As a result, it’s the day with the most hours of sunshine. With the sun nestled high above us, few clouds in the sky (at least from where we’re sitting), and temperatures set to hit a delightfully warm-but-not-too-hot 24°C, it’s the perfect day for lounging in the park. Even if you work all day, the sun will be setting at its very latest this evening, giving you plenty of twilight picnic hours to enjoy.
The summer solstice does bring with it a countdown to the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, which takes place exactly six months from the summer solstice, on December 21. But that’s aaaaages away. For now, it’s time to go for a long walk during your break, grab a blanket for a post- or pre-work picnic, and perhaps even indulge in some refreshing frozen cocktails. And if a breeze comes along and bothers you, just remind the breeze that it’s actually officially summer now and it’s rather rude for the breeze to ignore that.
Shorts season is here. And we’ll all be keeping them on until December, right?