What Summer, Surely You Jest!
Living here in England, it’s easy to be cynical about the weather during ‘the great British summer’ – as it is called, tongue in cheek.
Never more has this been true this summer when the overwhelming number of days have consisted of looming cloud cover, chilly winds, showers breaking in throughout the day, or out-and-out pounding sheets of rain.
True, we did get the odd glorious day when things heated up a bit and the sun stayed out for hours and one could actually leave the umbrella behind at home.
Most of the time, however, the sun came out only here and there – like it was playing hide and seek on the celestial level.
The Reality Up North
Especially up here in the northern part of the country, it has felt like June, July, and August scooted by with barely a hint of real summer.
Bring up the subject of weather to anyone living here, and most feel that this summer has been one of the worst in memory.
The Apparition At the Shopping Mall
Still, I was not prepared for what I saw when I went to a local shopping mall recently.
In the the center of town, it has a movie theatre with several screens, a medical clinic, some nice shops, and a small selection of cafes and restaurants.
So imagine going there for coffee as I did with my husband David last week when this was the scene that we saw:
As you can see, someone had installed this temporary imitation beach inside the mall to enable local children to ‘experience’ summer.
What’s That At The Bottom of the Escalator?
The whole kit and caboodle of this oversized, public sandbox was set up only about 15 yards from the mall’s main escalator.
People passed to and fro, some staring at the sight and others seemingly oblivious to it.
A Very Proper Play Area
The ‘beach’ was complete with several deck chairs, requisite buckets and spades, colorful beach balls, a decent layer of sand, and a cheery red-and-white striped cabana.
Along with a nice group of children, there were several parents there as well. They sat with the kids, or rested in deck chairs, or played with their kids.
Some of the kids were having a grand time kicking sand all over or fooling around with the beach balls that were strewn about, while balloons billowed in the air to give a festive feeling to the whole shebang.
Ain’t Kids Grand?
Everyone looked like they were having fun.
We noticed this as we were busy shaking off the water from our umbrellas having just come in from another very rainy summer’s day, and some minutes later as well when we sat down at a table near by with our coffees.
It was definitely lovely to hear the children’s laughter and see their little faces lit up by the whole delicious novelty of it all.
Summer Under Glass
It was frankly depressing, however, to witness the special glories of summer reduced and captured ‘under glass’.
How sad that such an artificial, contrived oasis of summer fun was kerplunked in the middle of a busy indoor shopping mall.
Accentuating the Positive
Still, as we sat and watched the children, we realized we could also see the sandbox as a sign of human ingenuity and how to cope with the hand that one is dealt.
That imitation beach sandbox was like ‘the little engine that could’ and trying very hard, no matter what.
And on that score if anyone has asked them to judge, I bet those kids would vote thumbs up for that oversized sandbox.
And never mind that outside the rain was running down the windows of the shopping mall, one can always pretend…
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