Summer When?

With May - and by default, the year - soldiering on and slipping away, people have started using that phrase...

"What a lovely summer we're having"

Now, don't get me wrong, but it's May.  I see May as late Spring.  Now don't get me wrong, yes, it is lovely at the moment.  Very lovely.  Heating off again, shorts on, legs out...

With people hammering on about it being a lovely summer, it got me to thinking; when IS it summer, or more importantly, what signs do I use to say "Ah yep, that's summer time!"

Last year, summer was what you might call "damp"  The summer before started off quite nice then plummeted into the realm of soggy.  Don't get me wrong, we had a few nice days, but generally, it was wet.  Yes this is England, but that's not the point.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't use "heat" and "sun" as a guide.  Early April this year was lovely - I had shorts on - but then by mid-April, it went back to Brrrrr.  Last year, October was really nice.  By default, those months are Spring and Autumn respectively. 

As I write this, it's just after eight at night, and the sun is still up.  That is one guide I like to use.  If little kids are moaning it's not bedtime due to the sun being up, that's a good guide.  However, as I sit here, I can hear the ultimate guide for me to say "Summer is Here!"

Swallows.  Or Swifts.  Or House Martins.  I'm never sure which it is, but the noise they make always makes me think of summer time.  And I've been noticing them for a while now.  Which means my original assessment of people's "what a lovely summer" comments might be wrong.  Maybe, with the sun being up and the swallows/swifts being out and about, maybe it is summer.

Either way, I'm glad it's here, and really really hope it's a good one this year!

So how about you - how do you judge Summer's arrival?

Newer Post Older Post

5 Responses to “Summer When?”

Stuart Wilson said...

Erm... the date? In this years case, June 21st. :)

Stuart Wilson said...

You know what.... Blogger.com blogs have a really crap 'post comment' feature. I'm always having trouble with it - I apologise for the double posting.

Dan said...

There you go - deleted the double post... It's all fun with blogger - been having issues with the upload image thingie too.

Oh well.

And as for the date, pffft, don't be silly ;)

Anonymous said...

Summer solstice = summer. :P

Dan said...

By that argument, your summer lasts one day ;)
And also, isn't that MIDsummers day? Suggesting that date is the middle of, and not the start of, summer?

hehe