British Summer Time

Summertime, summertime, sum- sum- summertime...

from the Kate Spade outlet store in Leesburg, VA

Yes, folks, that's right: we're officially in British Summer Time!  We changed our clocks on Saturday night / Sunday morning (spring forward, you know) and so now we have the possibility of glorious sunshine from before 7am until long past 7pm.  It's heaven.

We actually have been enjoying lots of sun - I took the below photos on the one cloudy day since I returned to London - and temperatures have been in the mid-teens at least.  It's been gorgeous.  The pub gardens were packed on Friday afternoon and Clapham Common yesterday evening at 6pm was full of people picnicking.  People are really celebrating the end of winter.

That being said, though, I've found that there's a particular Englishness to London's enjoyment of spring.  I still see coats and tights and boots on the street -as if things are going to dramatically change in an instant - and people keep telling me not to get used to the weather.  "This is it, you know," they tell me.  "This is summer.  These four days.  This is all we're going to get until 2012."

Bah, I say!  Spring is here and then after that comes summer - and life will be lovely.  (I am optimistic about the state of things these days.)