Friday 22 July 2016

What happens when the sun shines.

I have been in Manchester all day. Contrary to the predictions of the weathermen, who told us it would rain in the afternoon, the sun shone all day. In fact the sun has been shining almost all over the country for the last few days. 

Consequently some people have decided it is okay to sunbathe in their underwear in city centre parks. You know the situation: finish work early, go to the park, oops no swimsuit, strip off to your underwear! This has caused some controversy. Understandably some other people feel that this is unacceptable behaviour. I tend to be on the side of the objectors. 

One woman was apparently seen walking down the street in Birkenhead in her bra an knickers. Well, in this age of equality, if blokes can feel okay to walk down the street without their shirts when the sun comes out, then women should feel equally okay to walk around in a state of undress. Once again, I am on the side of the objectors. Even in some seaside places they insist on people being fully dressed on the streets and in bars and restaurants other than those actually on the beach. 

In countries where they expect to have sunshine in the summer months, people tend not to walk around half dressed in ordinary towns and cities. Is this a peculiarly British thing? When the local authorities have complained in Barcelona about people walking from their hotels to the beach in their swimwear and nothing else, indeed in one case totally naked, is it just the British who walk around that way? I wonder. 

Reports have also been appearing of incidents where people, not always teenagers, have got themselves into difficulties in rivers and lakes. An activity called "tomb-stoning", which involves jumping into a river from a fairly high bridge, has possibly caused the death of one teenager. It seems that they just jump in without knowing how deep the water is or what might be below the surface.   

And little George Windsor or Cambridge or whatever his name is has been photographed feeding the family dog an ice cream. As everything people see him do in photos appears to be copied by an adoring public (his baby blanket, outfits he has worn and so on have been sought out and sold out!!!), the RSPCA has seen fit to warn people that feeding ice cream to dogs is not on. Dairy products are dangerous to dogs! Some twitter users, overreacting as ever, have called for the three year old to be arrested for animal cruelty! 

It would seem that a bit of warm weather brings on a kind of madness.

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