I feel very British this week. If you are not British you may not know that our clothing, mood, eating habits and levels of joy are very weather dependant and therefore, given British weather, very mercurial.
Take this week for instance. I have worn items for all season -boots and flip flops, a cosy jumper and a vest top, suncream and a rain coat, sometimes all in one day.
Until this week I had been commenting that our barbecue hadn't seen service so far this year - unusual for us as we love to eat al fresco.
By the end of this week (assuming the weather forecast is correct) we will have clocked up at least four barbecues in 7 days.
As you can imagine our local supermarket has been heaving with pasty panicked shoppers filling their trolleys with anything that can be plonked on an outdoor grill, enough bread rolls to create a mountain and the obligatory British salad items of tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and cucumber.
Often by the time you've battled round the shop the sun has gone in and the rain is back and you have to eat inside.
Personally I have stockpiled packets of lemon and coriander couscous and corn on the cob which are my BBQ sides of choice. And crisps obvs. You can't have a British BBQ without crisps.
Despite promise of temperatures of 30 degrees I will still urge my children to take along a hoodie "in case it drops cold" and of course I will pop the anti sting cream into my bag because where there is outdoor food in the UK there are wasps.
We will over cater, overcook and overeat and when the three days of summer are over we will sigh with relief and go back to roast dinners and casseroles - until the next "heatwave" at least.
Take this week for instance. I have worn items for all season -boots and flip flops, a cosy jumper and a vest top, suncream and a rain coat, sometimes all in one day.
Until this week I had been commenting that our barbecue hadn't seen service so far this year - unusual for us as we love to eat al fresco.
By the end of this week (assuming the weather forecast is correct) we will have clocked up at least four barbecues in 7 days.
As you can imagine our local supermarket has been heaving with pasty panicked shoppers filling their trolleys with anything that can be plonked on an outdoor grill, enough bread rolls to create a mountain and the obligatory British salad items of tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and cucumber.
Often by the time you've battled round the shop the sun has gone in and the rain is back and you have to eat inside.
Personally I have stockpiled packets of lemon and coriander couscous and corn on the cob which are my BBQ sides of choice. And crisps obvs. You can't have a British BBQ without crisps.
Despite promise of temperatures of 30 degrees I will still urge my children to take along a hoodie "in case it drops cold" and of course I will pop the anti sting cream into my bag because where there is outdoor food in the UK there are wasps.
We will over cater, overcook and overeat and when the three days of summer are over we will sigh with relief and go back to roast dinners and casseroles - until the next "heatwave" at least.