SUMMER- WILD & OUTSIDE

One evening in Paris, after watching one of my best mates complete a gruelling London-Paris ride, we stopped by the Eiffel Tower just in time for us to catch her late-night light show as couples danced with each other because a band had set up on the steps opposite. It was the most charming sight of a summer night that left me wishing for more impromptu moments of charm and delight. Couples dancing in the warm summer moonlight; old and young.

There is something about summer that brings out the child in all of us; remember summers of days gone by? Heat and water fountains, ice cream and bike rides, rolling on grass without a care in the world. We walked bare feet and enjoyed the gentle caress of the earth against the soles of our feet. We screamed at the top of our voice with excitement, laughed that wide and full laughter at bad jokes and inside crackers. We never made it home before the streetlights came on; we are children who were raised by the neighbourhood so coming home a bit late during the summer holidays was never met with a sinister thought or worry. We were wild and carefree, screens were not a thing except we were gathered round the small telly to watch the magazine show of the day.

There was a lot wrong with the world, but we were cocooned from it.

We explored the world outside of our four walls and adventures abound in the season. It was the best of times, as they say, the very best of times with our imaginations running wild and free. This summer, I want to be outside, take a break from doom scrolling most nights that bleed into the morning. Siesta was a thing, as a child though we bemoaned being made to miss out on all the fun with our mates outside. In our downtime we buried our noses in books that took us on adventures in places far and away. We hung out a little later in our adolescent years and stole kisses with all the bad boys. We drifted from home to home, never eating a full meal in our home. Boys chased us with worms on sticks to gross us out, we’d walk the neighbour’s dog and adopted it as our mascot for the season.

We brought our whole selves, into the season ready for adventures and boy weren’t those the days! Road trips as a family we didn’t always get on; got on each other’s nerves and got over it. Parents pointing out places that bring back memories to them as we create our own memories too. Summer is for being outside; wild and free, enjoy the dance of the sun on your skin, (use sunscreen) walking bare feet in the park, slurping on ice cream, daring to dream, and do, and be, because we lived for the moment. Take a nap or two in the afternoon, a glass of champagne with the breakfast croissant because we are grown and make plans to take ourselves out more often with or without company. Fall asleep on the garden lounge or on a park bench or a beach hammock. Sink your teeth into big, fat juicy strawberries and drink rosé from the bottle, fall in love with a charming love story in the pages of a new romance novel… these are the dreams summer was made for, so let’s all be dreamers, wild and outside this summer.

To a summer of wildness, my darlings.