Summer is near

While autumn is undoubtedly my favorite season, think warm baths and falling leaves, I have to say I am very partial to summer. After the harsh Scottish winter that generally tends to last from about November to late March, you begin to miss the warmth of the sun on your skin and the smell of heat in the air. 

My favorite parts of summer are the beginning and the end of the season. I love the excitement of the sun coming out and realising that it is actually warm enough outside to ditch the jacket and throw on a pair of shorts. I love the atmosphere of heading down to the beach for the first picnic of the year and knowing that everyone else there has the same idea of just relaxing for a little while out of the town and soaking in the sun. I love the mad rush in supermarkets on the first day of BBQ season to grab all the salad and cocktails available before everything is all snapped up. I love the easy breezy attitude of spontaneous garden parties and family outings to enjoy some fresh air and the sea breeze.

Don't get me wrong, among all my romantic notions of summer I do detest the sweaty sheen that is always present on my forehead, having to shave my legs all the time and being inevitable stuck inside at work on the warmest days. But the great days more than make up for that. It's true what they say that everyone is happier in summer.

I also look forward to the transition of summer to autumn, when the nights begin to get longer, the temperature cooler and the clothes thicker. I think that there is a great sense of joy in being able to see the seasons slowly meld into each other and being unable to tell them apart until one day it is pretty darn obvious in the rainy October downpours that it is no longer summer and despite the warmth of the morning, definitely not appropriate to be donning the shorts and shades.

Summer to me is like freedom. It is the time to let go and to just be.To let your insecurities go and simply live. To list all the things that you are scared of doing and to damn well do them anyway. Summer is a time to prove to yourself what you've really got and how far you can push your limits.