What means Summer is here?

Ah, the sights of Summer - and there are some darned dreadful sights!

Men who are as wide as they are tall wearing those baggy 'cargo' shorts with about 100 pockets (which make them look even wider)and women with arms like lobster-pink prize hams squeezed into skimpy tops with spaghetti straps....literally letting it all spill out!

Aldi have got sunflowers in again so I can look forward to all summer with a jug of sunflowers on the table. Also being woken up by the sun instead of the alarm

39.5 in my back garden at the moment although it has been 42C today. Pleased it's getting cooler.

It is summer when it is light when i go to bed and light when i wake up. And when the day time temperature usually stays above 10°C.

My ridiculous calendar says summer begins on 21st June, the longest day. Each season can be early or late, depending entirely on the weather. Even in chilly weather I say it's always summer by mid May.
I'm not a summer person, I only like the first bit when everything's fresh and green. I don't ever want a temperature over 18. This weekend has been wasted, sitting indoors with the fan on, too hot for me or dog.

H has just come home with the first crop of peas from the allotment.

Daisyboots, are you okay?
Just been reading about forest fires in Portugal.

Balcony doors open wide all day and smell of lavender in pots. Salad for lunch and strawberries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. LOVE summer fruits. Sandals and flip flops and bare legs and my granddaughters shrieking in the garden playing in the water from the sprinkler . Buying an icecream to eat on the beach. The smell of sun cream. Best of all sunshine, long days and long light evenings

Being able to get up in the morning & putting on t-shirt & shorts knowing I'm going to warm enough, perhaps too hot later in the day.Well I do live in Sunny Devon.

Roses blooming & the delicious smell as I walk past them.

Only downside is pair of seagulls on neighbour's roof, 4a.m. they start, my bedroom window is open so early alarm call

Getting the sunbed out of the garage ready for lots of lovely lazy afternoons lying on it reading my Kindle in the sun. I'm never happier.

Just spent a week in Cyprus and it WAS hot enough to swim at midday but early morning meant a thermal vest, long PJs and a dressing gown.

I live in Scotland ,the first sign of summer is that the rain is warm...lol

I'm wondering if it would be tempting providence to get the fans down from the top of the cupboard! Can't wear my sandals yet, Chewbacca because my feet look awful until I have had a pedicure!

Summer is.... waiting weeks for the perfect opportunity to wear your new summer sandals, only to find that they rub like hell and you've got to continue wearing them for the rest of the day with a huge blister on the top of your toes.

35C in my back garden. All windows open to allow a good breeze through to cool it down in the house.

As it is 42C in the shade summer is definitely here in Portugal. This means all the windows shut and keeping cool in the house. Deciding that, staying in the house today, I will just wear a loose dress and no bra. Very unusual for me. A good day for dieting as don't fancy eating much but drinking plenty of water and cups of tea. Enjoy the sunshine everyone.

Must set an alarm for 5.00am Kim19. Silence would be bliss.
My neighbours are extending their house. The work started last October and is confined to evenings and weekends because the guy is a builder and doing his own work...after work. Today a machine/engine has been running all day since 8.30am except for a half hour lunch break. It's relentless. Chances are it will be the same tomorrow. I think this summer may as well be written off. ?

Just the sheer joy of being able to stand out in my garden at 0500 and absorb the absolute beauty of sight and silence (with a little bird natter for good measure). Don't care for the word but AWESOME seems as accurate as I can muster for this sensationally overwhelming experience.

I'm trying very hard to be more cheerful. We did get some sun for about five minutes but it's gone now. I'm going to go to Morecambe this afternoon to take the dog for a walk, it might be better there hopefully.

I heard yesterday about rhubarb gin so I'm going to try and make some, what do you keep the mixture of rhubarb and gin in for the three months before you can strain it please? It obviously won't go back into the bottle the gin came out of, do you use two bottles to store it in? Also the rhubarb cordial mentioned above by NameChange sounds lovely. How do you make that? I'v got all this rhubarb, thanks to all the rain, I may as well drown my sorrows!

I agree with you about the housemartins, hilda.
The first ones were here on 10th May this year.

Not being able to close my bedroom door.

I guess it's the change in atmosphere or something but in this house, our bedroom door becomes difficult to shut in the summer, it must warp or swell, I think. At the moment, it still closes easily, so it isn't yet summer!

Having washing drying out in the sunshine. How sad am I?

Thanks Dharmacat, it's good to know that someone else has suffered like us. I can't understand it, if you look at the weather map, there's a patch of cloud just over us!

I can't uproot us away from all our friends/family/relatives as well as all the community which I live but it's so tempting to move to Dorset or somewhere like that!

It's STILL cloudy, quite warm but no sun, it's just not fair!!!

Commiserations Mazza 245 having lived most my life on the north east coast of England I know how you feel. Seven years ago I remarried and moved to south west France - summer bliss! Eating outdoors, pootling, lazing and reading in the garden and evenings still warm at 10pm.
Nothing is perfect so at the moment we have a heatwave which restricts any outdoor work after miid day and the plant watering is never-ending. Not complaining as wandering around the garden in the fresh balmy mornings with the scents of the flowers , supervised by our cat as we decide what to do with today's crop of courgettes, is so blissful.

Small green cherries on my cherry tree. Hopefully some of them will ripen and if I'm really lucky I might get to eat one or two before the birds get them. Last year I ate exactly one cherry!

My strawberries have started and there are some green redcurrants which will ripen soon. I adore summer fruits and also plan to freeze lots to last me for the rest of the year. And I might make some jam or cordial. I have already made some rhubarb cordial with the spring rhubarb. Wonderfully refreshing with lemon and sparkling water and my dear friend got a bottle for her birthday last month (though she likes gin with hers).
I love the long summer evenings, they fill me with such joy.