Phew, what a scorcher

This is the first warm weekend of the year – and boy, is it a cracker. 

Traditionally this is a time for national celebration, when everyone digs out last year’s shorts and takes to the road. They then proceed to snarl up the highways as they head for beauty spots, theme parks, garden centres and beaches.

Not this year, though. It’s just a quick trip to the grocery shop and possibly an hour’s walk for us.

It should have been a depressing and frustrating experience. But the fact that we’re all in this together means no-one is actually missing out. Except perhaps for the Scottish chief medical officer, who snuck away to her second home when she thought no-one was looking. How embarrassing.

There’s something to be said for being forced to appreciate what we have, rather than yearn for what we can’t have.

As far as we were concerned, we decided to do what we could with the tools we had and the available space. We’re fortunate enough to have a garden, so we found a length of string and hung it across the lawn between two trees, throwing a bit of old pond netting over it to make an improvised badminton net.

We took advantage of our state-sanctioned walks, but we chose different routes on Saturday and Sunday to give ourselves a change of scene. And we brought out the barbecue and ate outside last night, chatting to friends over FaceTime as we did so. Tonight we’ll be having Aperol spritzes followed by barbecued sausages and burgers on the terrace.

People are dying, the economy is tanking and our anxiety levels are going through the roof. But for some odd reason, this has been the best weekend we’ve had in ages.

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