It was a beautiful day today. The sun was high in the sky and its rays lit up the streets with deep golds and striking yellows.
There was a feel of Spring in the air too, the grey fog that hung around the city centre was gone, replaced with bright reflections in shop windows and people putting hands up to their eyes to shield the sun.
It’s been freezing cold, dark and dull for ages now. Every morning you would wake up to look out the window only to be greeted with skies the colour of lead.
Walking down the high-street felt strangely claustrophobic, and the dark sky loomed overhead, just waiting to swallow up any sunlight that escaped from its all encompassing clutches.
Rain clouds far away in the sky were queueing up to let go of their newly-formed droplets, just waiting to catch you out. The big, dark and heavy clouds felt unnaturally low, and the moisture in the air gave a sense that it would rain at any moment. Plus, this was Leeds, where it would rain at any moment.
But today felt different. It was only March 2nd, but it felt like a totally different season from last week’s Arctic conditions. One deep breath would awaken memories of summery times gone by.
The sunlit walk home serving as a reminder that good times were on their way, unlocking past memories of summer. Summer that can exist when living outside of Leeds. Nay, Summer that actually existed outside of Leeds.
Thoughts went back to outdoor festivals, trips to the beach, and days off sunbathing too long on the balcony leaving me red raw but with a tan that lasted two whole weeks.
You could feel it all, and you could almost taste the ice-cold cider spilling over the edge of a plastic cup you bought at Leeds Festival that year.
The sun felt different too. It felt closer, it seemed bigger. No car on the road and no person on the street could escape its rays and everything basked in this first sunny day of 2010. To be honest, as sunny as the day was, and as different as it felt to last week, it still wasn’t warm.
I still needed to button up everything on my jacket, I still needed my thick black gloves on too. The gloves with the thread pulled on the index finger after I had continually pulled the glove off with my teeth. And I still need my winter hat on. The hat my girlfriend found down the back of the sofa. (if you’ve recently lost a hat please contact me, as we may have found it).
It felt great to be outside today, and hopefully a carefully-written out sign of things to come. Let’s hope Summer 2010 is a good one. I want memories of sun this summer, not cycling to work soaked through.
——————–
I also appear on the SPOnGcast each fortnight. Visit SPOnG.com to download or iTunes to subscribe.
Big Brother may have finished but you can download all 8 episodes of Big Bother from either the Big Bother site or iTunes.
