The schitzo Sun

Well it’s got a little warm. Not hot...just warm.

The UK summer is duplicitous in how it gives you a little taste and then turns around and spits at you.

It has an amazing way of tempting you in, like that cruel girl who sends one little smile your way and then giving you nothing for weeks. Or those last three forkfuls of a curry that says ‘come on – you know you want to’ and you fart flames for 4 more hours. And like flames, the British summer time is here – uncomfortable heat followed a chilling down pour just to keep you on your toes.

What they didn’t tell you about is Pride Tuesday. It's when the very next day when the temperature plummets from the scorching 18 degrees to 2. Why Pride Tuesday? Because one is too proud to pretend it doesn’t bother them!

I, unfortunately, had my Pride Tuesday early in the season, March to be exact. Now this meant I spent the next two months in single digit weather refusing to take with me my scarf or over coat. Walking around in the brisk London spring, head held high, not feeling my toes, I was content. But now it’s good to see that the sun is here and it’s Cider Season.

I’ve actually never been able to drink cider, and when I left Aus no one did. I was very interested to see when I was back in November that it has caught on. And after 4 years, I can actually drink it too. There’s nothing like a cider in the park in the sun (that’s what we do in the UK).

But even better with this summer is the World Cup. This competition is brilliant. The underdogs standing up to do the best they can possible do; taking on the more powerful opposition and hoping for the best.

Now lately England aren’t doing too badly in the sport game. They’ve won the ashes, Murray (technically Scottish, but hey, we claim Russell Crowe) is doing alright in tennis, they beat us by one point in the rugby over the weekend, and they came through their World Cup qualifiers quite well. But yet, the media and the public in this country want a reason to lose – they really do. They don’t like success. It’s phenomenal.

The national cry for England: their attempt to build the spirits of their nation; the hopes of a country that built a global empire is and has a history of being the successful underdog.....’Maybe’.

Yes – ‘Maybe’. It’s short for ‘Maybe this is our year’. If I’m going up against the Brazilians, Argie Bargies, The Spaniards, even the Dutch – I’d want something a little better than Maybe?? Even just ‘Probably’ would help a touch. But this is the mentality: we’re not going to win so no real need to bother. Fair point.