march means the beginning of summer

Manila Summer.

1. Clear blue skies and constant sunshine that is too hot to sit out in at midday.
2. Getting into hot cars after sitting in the scorching parking lot.
3. Sun that beats down on your olive skin, browning and bringing you a summer glow in 10 minutes.
4. Reading books in your backyard.
5. Ice cold shandy with San Miguel.
6. Frizzy hair.
7. The smell of heat pounding on the tarmacked roads.
8.. Warm humid air that sits heavily around you and sweating even if sitting in front of the fan.
9. Beach. Ocean. Sand. if you have time to get away from the concrete jungle....
10. .... if not, there's always the pool and garden in the folks' backyard.

London Summer. 
(When it comes)

1. Deck chairs, picnics and ducks at Hyde Park.
2. Cool, non-humid breeze that touches your skin as you walk down the roads.
3. The inability to get brown while sitting in the park for a whole day or the hope to get colour on your  one hour lunch break.
4. Reading a book on a bench at the closest park.
5. Magners and ice or a shandy in the beer garden of a local pub.
6. People drinking out on the streets of central London.
7. Day trips to Brighton or Bournemouth just to see the ocean.
8. Notting Hill Carnival & music festivals.
9. Hot, sweaty people fighting for space on the tube where there is no ventilation or airconditioning & 58° buses. Makes you want to just walk.
10. Walks down the South Bank along the Thames.


As the date comes closer to my brother leaving for London, I crave to be heading there with him.
And as much as I love our tropical summers, I will always love London summers. This is when I miss it the most.

I always felt alive and free.