The UMCance

As most of you may have noticed, for the first time in a very long time, we have a real summer on our hands. It's been dry and hot for almost a month. Temperatures have been hanging around the 28c mark and the sky is azul blue. I have not put on anything more than a T-shirt since May and the kids are running around half naked throwing water-bombs at each other. This is Mediterranean summer at its best. Better, actually. The days are longer and at the end of every day I am back at home, in my own bed. More importantly, the kids are in their.

And the best thing about it is that it makes no sense of "going away for the summer". You see, most of my good friends (MGFs for those of you who don't know) living in London treat the city as a place for the day-to-day; work, school runs, supermarket, laundry. In summer they live a parallel life, going away for 6 weeks either back home or to a Mediterranean outpost. It's the British upper-middle-class version of the vacance; let's call it the UMC-ance.

The French you know, go away as a family for the month of August. The British upper-class go away for July & August. Mostly to Balmoral. The upper-middle-class man can afford the holiday but cannot afford to be seen as someone who can bunk off work for 6 whole weeks.

So, they take a week off to fly the family over to where they summer, go back to the office, fly over with Ryanair for two long weekends in the middle, and join the family for the last week and fly back together. This way, you manage to be on holiday for 6 weeks but out of the office for 2. The net-net of it is that the husband is alone in London for 3 weeks [which is not as appealing as it sounds - met MGF M last summer to watch Avatar, he bought a 6-scoop Ben & Jerry's to make up for the fact he hadn't eaten the last 3 days], and the wife is constantly cross for having to take care of the kids all alone in a foreign land. [Unless, of course you are MGF G&V who go home to Scandinavia all together for the whole summer and have the time of their lives. They are, however, the exception that proves the rule.]

Anyhow, with London being dry, sunny and warm for the whole of June and, so far, the first half of July, UMC-ancing makes absolutely no sense. You see, there is more to do in London than in most places. By staying here and going away all together for a glorious 2 week holiday on the beach you end up enjoying the best of all worlds. Or, at least [as I cannot afford the UMC-ance and only barely managed to scrape a two-week break on the beach] it is what I managed to convince myself of.

PS 570km down. 430km to go.