I know for a fact I'm not alone in having thoroughly enjoyed the glorious weather of late. For the past few 2 weeks as the sun came up over the skyline, millions of Londoners prepared for yet another day of hot sunshine.
But will they be tanned, bronzed and glowing? Err not in the slightest, quite a few I am sorry to say resemble 'lobsters on south beach' as the lilt advert from the 90s rythmically lamented.
I'm not being mean, being a Brit I totally understand why the first sign of sun gets us all excitted and has us whipping our clothes off quicker than you can say chippendales.
But year after year I baffle and do find it slightly amusing, the British reaction to the sun. Aside from thinking 'wa hey, lets get those shorts out' nothing else seems to be an issue, SPFs don't really seem to come into the equation, the concept of them seeming to be as foreign as pasty skin on a Spanish holiday.
Upon asking a few good friends why the hell they let themselves burn, when clearly they don't have to with suncream gracing every shop from Poundstretcher to Selfridges. I get a mixed reaction from blank stares and oft the answer 'sunscreen over here theres no point,the suns not strong enough.'
So I have come to the conclusion we Brits suffer from what I will call 'sun syndrome'. We view our holiday destinations as having their own celestial bodies. confused? let me explain. We break the sun up into two types. a) Holiday sun and b) home sun.
Now for some bizarre reason unfathomable to me we don't think the sun can be strong at all when at home, never mind the fact its 28 degrees and so hot the roads are turning gooey, why is this?because we are not on our 'hols'. if we were we would be slatherting on the white stuff like our lives depended on it.
But nope, on home soil we're bathing in our parks, barbecuing in our gardens all at peak sun times without a hint of cover up some even putting baby oil and cooking oil on I kid you not.
Please my fellow countrymen sort it out its not pretty and definately can't be comfortable.
I'm one of these pale north Europeans who have burnt myself silly again and again, seemingly never learning the lesson. Once roasted after a particularly hot day sunbathing in Victoria Park in London I remember a little girl telling me: if you are born white you should stay white.
ReplyDeleteShe made me laugh. That's how simple it is. Don't try to be what you cannot be. Just be yourself.