21 Things That Happen When The Sun Comes Out In The UK

It’s official, the mercury is rising and (despite having snow across the UK less than a month ago) we’re now experiencing the hottest April in nearly 70 years.

If we’re lucky Thursday will reach 28C in parts of southern England, while the rest of the UK should see the temperature rise into at least the low 20s, the Met Office said, so it feels like summer has finally arrived.

And it wouldn’t be a real British summer without these 21 things.

1. Refreshing the weather app every ten seconds before leaving the house.

2. Wheeling out all your summer outfits because you know it will be over next week.

3. But taking a coat anyway, ‘just to be on the safe side’.

4. Noting the division between commuters who checked the weather and those who definitely didn’t.

5. Finding yourself wanting to smile at strangers in the street.

6. Using the weather as your only topic of conversation.

7. Hating your colleagues who have taken a mysterious sick day.

8. Wishing sunshine automatically meant it was a Bank Holiday.

9. Reviving all your Whatsapp groups to make weekend plans.

10. Realising you weren’t the only person who wanted to eat outside at lunchtime.

11. Accepting any scrap of tarmac as a suitable beer garden.

12. Refusing to make plans that don’t include the pub.

13. Knowing bikinis are now appropriate in inner city areas.

14. Feeling completely unphased by the amount of skin on show everywhere.

15. Surprising yourself when you burn, despite not putting on SPF.

16. Wondering why you don’t always drink fruit cider at lunch.

17. Insisting that all meals are cooked on a BBQ.

18. Searching for a vessel big enough to turn into a makeshift paddling pool.

19. Stock piling all the hayfever medication.

20. Bragging to anyone who has had the misfortune to pay to go abroad this week.

21. Stopping yourself from moaning about it being ‘too hot’.