When I saw this advert for blinds, the first thing that struck me – your typical pasty northerner whose aspirin whiteness of wintertime sours into a shade of blanc cassé in summer – was the idea that anyone not be friends with the sun.
Haven't we met before?
When sun-starved Brits travel to warmer climes, locals are often amused to see them strip off for the merest ray of light. That’s what happens when you grow up with summers of waiting for the clouds to part.
It doesn’t always rain in the UK, and like the bad food jokes it’s a tired cliché that too many people who’ve never been there use. But Britain has had a poor excuse for a summer so far. Or as a good friend of mine put it “rain…rain, a threat of sunshine, followed by rain”. Oh to have so much sun that you just can’t take any more. That’s what I hear in the voices of family back in And that’s how I used to feel – you just can’t have too much of a good thing. But lately I think maybe we need a little time apart, a bit of space. When I come back I’m sure I’ll appreciate it more.
It doesn’t help that people like you and I need to slather on bucket-loads of “cream” before going to the beach while all the Mediterraneans stare at you curiously (“haram!”) because they maaaybe put a little on their face or nose, if at all. I decided that if I lived in Lebanon I would go broke buying sunscreen—$40 for 8oz!!
Yep I actually couldn’t even find any at the beginning of one summer – the huge TSC in Géant hadn’t even bothered getting any in stock. There’s clearly not a huge domestic demand for sun cream!