The sunny weather has kept us all sane during the pandemic – shame it won’t last

At least during lockdown we had the sunshine and the park to keep us cheerful, says Jenny Eclair. But with the rain clouds rolling in, the country is likely to take a massive psychological turn for the worse

Children cool themselves in fountains during a heatwave (EPA)

Oof it was hot though wasn’t it? It was so hot for so long that we lost count of the cloudless blue sky days and even though we might not have been doing exactly what we wanted, where we wanted (preferably on a Greek island), it still felt like a holiday and I even bothered to paint my toenails in celebration.

What I noticed during the heatwave was how lovely everyone looked. Now I live in southeast London, but over the last few weeks, it might as well have been Ibiza.

People who weren’t going abroad due to the classic Covid-19 combination of money worries and travel restrictions started wearing their holiday finery here in the UK. What I call the “riviera wardrobe” came out to play – all those glittery sandals and wafty tunics. Even the men joined in, sporting jaunty straw hats, jungle print shirts and those Havannah flip flops mostly bought once upon a time at Gatwick airport.

London looked oddly sexy in the sun. Who knew that underneath all that pasty blubber, lurked a good-looking nation? The parks were full of tanned lean girls larking around with tanned lean boys, the mummies became extra yummy and the stubble-chinned daddies dishier by the day.

Since lockdown, the one thing that has kept many of us sane has been the good weather. Because for many months, it’s been our sole consolation prize. Fact, decent weather makes life easier. OK, so we might be in the middle of a pandemic, but at least it’s nice enough to sit out and have a barbecue.

The sunshine also helped keep us all fit. In fact, something that I’ve really noticed is how much more active children are post-lockdown.

Two of my nearby outdoor spaces are particularly child-friendly; Peckham Rye and Dulwich Park have been riddled with kids in recent months and I’ve genuinely been taken aback by how much more physical they seem than before. I’m seeing kids actually running, running just for the sake of running. Running fast across wide-open green spaces, arms outstretched or chasing each other and hiding behind trees. Oh and tree climbing, that’s back in a big way. Kids are actually getting stuck up trees like in the olden days.

The bike thing is noticeably different too. These days there are hordes of young cyclists weaving in and out, showing more dexterity and prowess than ever before. Four-year-olds are ditching the stabilisers and mastering the two-wheeler, eight-year-old girls are skateboarding up a storm and roller-blading is fashionable again.

Children may have been missing out massively in terms of schooling and education but lots of them seem to have benefitted hugely from some good old-fashioned fresh air and some are even looking vaguely healthy.

Maybe kids, (like adults) have a screen tolerance level that has long since peaked with being stuck indoors and they’re actually rediscovering the joys of kicking a ball around?

Even I, never the outdoorsy type, have been taking advantage of the good weather to do a decent daily walk. Although obviously with my recent skin cancer warning, I’m slathered in factor 50 and rocking a wide-brimmed hat. Don’t sneer, but back in March the old man and I thought we’d done rather well if we managed around 3,000 consecutive steps. Now we can double that without resorting to “a nice sit down” on a convenient bench.

The recent good weather made up for many things that we couldn’t have – trips to the theatre, casual gallery visits, jumping on a tube without feeling frightened, trying on clothes in a clothes shop, mask-free grocery shopping.

With nothing much else on offer, at least we had the sunshine and the park to keep us cheerful. But with the weather taking an abrupt turn for the worse and our smartphone apps suddenly set to constant rain, the prospect of the park isn’t quite so delightful.

Should this break in the good weather continue, I can see the country taking a massive psychological turn for the worse. Personally I find that on grey days my mood plummets. Never mind getting out the yoga mat, what’s the point in opening the curtains? Pity all those people choosing this week to holiday in the UK, it’s so unfair. At least when the sun was shining, it felt a bit like being in Italy.

Unfortunately, the UK can be quite miserable without sunshine and only the most disciplined of us will bother to stride out in the drizzle when the alternative is keeping warm and dry in front of the telly. But sadly autumn is coming and weather-wise things are only going to get tougher.

Of course, what this country desperately needs is a retractable roof, but in the absence of that and because someone described my lockdown gut as a “liver roll” (too much wine), I’m going to have to buy some decent waterproofs. The alternative is really fat, really depressed and quite possibly a bit p*****.