[title]
Nathan James Page
1. Being inside
You can’t have an evening in in the summer time without experiencing a deep gut-wrenching guilt. You’re missing out on the sunshine. ‘You could have snoozed in the park in the sun!’ your brain will tell you when you’ve accidentally slept in until 1pm on a Saturday. ‘Stay out and have drinks with your colleagues,’ it will insist when all you really want to do is race home, close the curtains and get a Deliveroo Nando’s. Spending six hours watching Netflix is just so much better when it’s cold outside.
2. Gravy
Sure, pomegranate salad is vibrant, goat’s cheese is fragrant and everyone loves the smell of meat on a barbecue. But do you know what’s better than all of that? Gravy. Thick, sloppy gravy. Unfortunately, gravy in summer is like drinking your bath. But in winter, is there anything better than glugging brown viscous liquid over a yorkshire pudding or tucking into a bubbling meaty stew? Possibly, but it’s not a pomegranate salad.
Nathan James Page
3. The Central line
Summer commutes on the Central line mean feeling a bead of sweat drip from your head all the way down your back to your feet, as you silently cry your way to and from work. Come winter, though, and that hellish inferno becomes a welcome embrace. The sticky warmth of other commuters’ bodies is a delightful change from the freezing streets of this mean city, and as other passengers crowd around you, you can bask in the heat like a lizard on a rock.
4. Lack of insects
It’s ironic that the only months it’s warm enough to sit outside in the UK are the same months you’re guaranteed to get attacked by something small and buzzy. Going for a pint in the summer involves video game levels of dodging wasps, midges, bees and ants. Then there’s the swatting, the dashing from tables, the covering of glasses with beer mats and the industrial quantities of insect repellent that make you smell like an explosion in Lush. It’s horrible. Going for a pint in the winter, on the other hand, just consists of sitting at a nice table indoors near a fire.
Nathan James Page
5. Coats
In the summer, ‘looking good’ involves complex decision- making about tops, shorts, caps and ‘do you think I need a jumper for later?’ In the winter it all boils down to owning just one item: a nice coat. You always need a coat in the winter, which means no layering quandaries. It hides the evidence of months of gravy-drenched meals. Plus, if it’s properly long, it doesn’t even matter if you’re only wearing pyjamas underneath, you’ll still look fly. Up yours, summer fashion.
By Kate Lloyd, whose reluctance to enjoy summer may be down to her gingerness.
Illustrations: Nathan James Page
Take a look at the top five most stressful London experiences