Watching the rain poor down for the seventh day in a row, in late October, I look at my fading tan still lingers on my knees, thighs and arms; proof of what a great summer I’d just enjoyed. The year will, now doubt, be memorable by most for the Covid19 pandemic that drastically altered the way we live, socialise and do business for the foreseeable future. But I, perhaps wishfully, I’d like to think 2020 will also be remembered for the prolonged high temperatures hitting plus 30 degrees for several days in a row, three months of sunny, cloudless skies, and barmy weather that got us used to flip-flops, shorts, open windows, and getting a tan for the first time in years.

It all started in March, in tandem with the commencement of the Covd19 lock-down. March was actually quite wet, yet someone had told me it was going to be and Indian summer all the same, because it was also warm with the rain, and that historically this heralded an Indian summer. Without checking, I decided to believe this. After all, March was warm and sunny as well so all the signs were there. And as we rolled in to April, it was warm and dry, devoid of the usual April showers. Lock-down restrictions were taking hold, so the long walks in the country were enjoyed that bit more, by the distinct lack of rain. As I had to get used to queuing, two meters apart, to get in to chops, we also had to become familiar with wearing face masks when shopping.

Meanwhile, we seamlessly rolled through May and June with warm temperatures that steadily rose to their highest in decades. Sandals and shorts became my normal attire, and whenever possible shirtless. I even invested in a pair of hiking sandals, that were too awkward to wear so reverted back to the old faithful, pair of trainers for those long walks to while away the furloughed restrictions. While flip-flops became my preferred footwear, newly formed rituals became commonplace, such as a daily application of sun screen and the use of face-masks when entering the shops. The sun-screen was in the same draw for a couple of years and left an odd smell because it was well beyond its sell-by date. But it lasted until the last week of July, when the skies mercifully opened and it started to get wet, as were the early days in August. Many were of the opinion that we’d seen the last of the summer as temperatures had dropped, the rain had been around for six weeks and our tans were fading away.

Yet, just as I was looking for a new job and Covid19 restrictions were starting to be loosened, by late August, temperatures started getting warm, dry conditions prevailed with cloudless skies again. It soon felt too hot to be out in the midday sun once more, while the jumpers and over coats could be thrown back in to the cupboards for the foreseeable future as we recorded several days of over 30 degrees and several nights of over 20 degrees. Flip flops and shorts were the normal dress code again and not a window wasn’t open, once more as portable air-conditioning units, fans and air-cleaning apparatus, went in to over-drive to help many of my neighbours get to sleep in the clammy evenings. I even started hearing people complain about the heat and how it had lasted a bit too long now, while the sound of Ice-cream vans became more prevalent as one of those summer afternoon background sounds that typify a summer afternoon.

But, it seemed, all good things had finally come to an end, when in the last week of September, we were warned that the rains would come, and by the first week of October, they duly arrived. The temperature fell and, the short-lived relief that fresh air brings, was overcome by the realisation this was heralding the actual end to the summer. It had been a good run, and we were after all in October, Autumn, so there were no complaints about the seemingly inevitable.

So, with the remnants of the lingering tan on my knees as proof, I pass on my fond memories of a great Indian summer.