Summertime Blues

Posted on by Barbed Words

depressing summer

It’s starting to heat up here in Rome.  At 10am this morning, the temperature had already hit 27 degrees, the sky was a deep blue without a cloud to be seen and the sun was beating down.  Sounds like bliss huh?  Hmmm, sadly not.  I’m sure I’m a lone voice with this opinion but I just can’t stand the summer.

Seriously, what is there to love?  Sweaty thighs, burnt noses, nagging at kids to wear suncream, hundreds of mosquito bites (I’m the person invited to summer barbecues just to act as the mosquito buffet) and clammy nights where you can’t sleep? Wearing vests and t-shirts that reveal flabby bingo wings and muffin tops?  Weeks of preparation – bikini line and leg waxes, pedicures, diets and, gulp, exercising???  No, no, no.

Give me a breezy autumn afternoon strolling in the woods, beautiful russet leaves dancing all around. A crisp, icy February morning when your breath billows out like your grandad puffing on his pipe. Cosy jumpers, roaring fires, walks along a deserted beach with the waves crashing on the sand, DVD days where you don’t feel guilty about not leaving the house.  Getting fat and covering it all up with extra layers.   Christmas!

Fortunately I’ve found a secret weapon against this hot weather.  I go to the coolest place in Rome.  Not cool as in hip and happening but as in it’s actually chilly.  Goosebump raising, nerp stiffening, teeth chatteringly cold.  Yes, it’s the ice-rink.  I’m in my shorts and t-shirt whilst everyone else is wrapped up in coats, scarves and the odd woolly hat.  I don’t even ice-skate.   I just take my deck chair, book and flask of tea and enjoy it like other nutters people enjoy the beach.  So that’s where I’ll be all summer: eating my sandwiches without added sand, ensuring my lily-white skin doesn’t get the slightest hint of a tan and, best of all, not sweating.

Anyone agree with me or can you just not get enough of the sun??

Published by Barbed Words

18 thoughts on “Summertime Blues”

  1. Loving the idea of you taking your deck chair, tea and book to the ice-rink, inspired! In two minds re the sun, I like it and am jealous of the hot Rome days but on the other hand this rubbish summer has meant that I haven’t had to expose my flesh, zippy tops all the way! x

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  2. Ha, ha! Me too, I’m rubbish in the sun, and about to move abroad to where the sun shines constantly! Once, at the end of a two week holiday in Italy, I was sat in a restaurant with my friends who were all brown and glowing, and I’m there all lily white, after having applied factor 50 sun cream all holiday, and the waiter said (completely seriously), oh have you just arrived out here to join your friends…. Hmmm……….
    Jane x

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  3. So you like sun not heat. One persons paradise is another ones hell. A day of rain and drizzle in Rome is about as much fun as a slap in the face but in drought ridden Africa it would be cause for celebration.

    Personally variety of weather is perfection. That way if you know whatever the weather it won’t last long.

    However on a final point too much heat is a problem as with cold you can always put another layer in, but there is nowhere else to go beyond naked , and at most times being naked leads to arrest….

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  4. I get where you’re coming from. Sunny is good but anything over 25C and I’m sweltering (and burn in 20 minutes)…. Mind you I think we’re all Vitamin D deficient in the UK at the moment so you’re welcome to send some of that weather this way.

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  6. I totally agree with you. I’m an Autumn babe myself, and I hide away behind the shutters here until the heat goes away. My only salvation is spending hours in Picard: the local frozen foods place. By the end of summer I know the catalogue off by heart 🙂

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  7. I think you’ve forgotten the ‘kiss me quick’ hat as essential deck chair gear – that would complete the ice rink image I have !! I’m all for sun, need it, crave it. But to be honest think I’m a bit reptilian – too cold in the winter ( spring and autumn!) and over 23 degrees and I’m too hot. Oh we are so demanding, aren’t we, always chasing something we don’t have….

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    1. Will look online for a ‘kiss me quick’ hat or, if I can’t find one, I’ll rustle up a knotted hankie. I will point out that, although I am a total misery to be around in the summer, I rarely moan in the winter!

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  8. I love the idea of you ‘sunbathing’ at the ice rink… Personally I love the summer, but then I love winter too – the freezing cold, crisp days. As Crazy Chris said, it’s all about variety, and at least here in Italy, unlike in the UK, we get proper seasons!

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  9. Sitting uncomfortably on the fence on this one. You see, I’m from Africa. I love outdoor living, not something I can enjoy much of in the north of england. But I equally dislike intense heat and when I go on summer holidays, I tend to lie in the shade slathered in sun block. On balance, summer is preferable to winter (because let’s face it, British winters suck) but that’s largely because we live in the aforementioned north of England and therefore don’t need to apply sunblock, get mosquitoes or sweat.

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Anything to add?