God, I love this time of year.
We’ve officially gone headlong into those precious few weeks when the city warms up and the daylight stretches well into the late evening.
Just for a little bit, you can dangle your legs over the concrete sides of a murky canal on your way home from work and remember why exactly it is you live here.
All it takes is a little sunshine, and suddenly you understand.
You’ve got an answer to all those doubts that plague you in your darkest moments for the rest of the year (mostly in the comment sections of the Telegraph).
See, the sun comes out and you realise:
This is why you pay the highest rents in the country, why you live in shared housing while everyone else gets their own two bedroom flat and a dog, why you suffer through transport strikes on dark, rainy evenings, and why you still manage to get up in the morning when all that greets you outside are other disgruntled faces staring at you through a red, angry mist of commuter rage.
And you know why you bother, don’t you?
It’s not just the fact that everyone’s a bit happier.
Or that you can finally arrange picnics outside without having a Rainy Day Contingency Plan, or that you now have a legitimate excuse to go to the only pub in Farringdon with outside space at 11:55am on Friday “lunchtime” to make sure you “get a table”.
No no, it’s because every summer, the city completely outdoes itself and puts on the sort of events that make you wonder if everyone here just lives on another planet entirely.
We might have massive parks, and rooftop bars where you’ll probably only have to queue for an hour or two before getting in, and an enviable festival calendar where you, yes you! can pay £5 for a Red Stripe.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
You only have to peruse a copy of TimeOut London to discover some sort of pop-up event that you quite literally would never, ever want to do at any time of year, but could probably be pushed to do in the summer.
Gone are the days of cocktails sipped alfresco on temporary wooden decking or a fake beach.
This summer, inside is the new out.
Urban pop-ups are the new festivals.
And, my friends, Ariel liqui-tabs are the new jam jar.
It’s not all party, party, party, though.
You can also find no end of new and exciting ways to explore your local area.
Starting with the signage.
And if you’re a bit nostalgic for your school days?
Don’t worry, a new pop-up will transport you back to the one bit about school that everyone hated because it smelt like dog food and old sandwiches.
That’s right, get ready to take your seats in the school dinner hall for the ironically non-student friendly price of £55 + admin fee.
Obviously.
Or are you a homesick Australian?
If so, again, London’s summer pop-up bonanza is coming to the rescue with an “urban beach” in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
So yep. Be homesick no more, Sydney-siders: East London’s version of Bondi overlooks a canal and everything.
Seriously. London: just stop.
So who needs Glastonbury? Not us.
It’s summertime, the sun’s out, and we’ve got Trevor Nelson playing in a launderette while you chill in a hot tub eating peruvian food in Hackney Wick.
It’s going to be great.
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