Monday 15th April

Sunday was the one hundred and fourth day of the year, and at last the sun is shining.  We have had to wait for almost a third of the year for a bit of warmth, that golden glow on your skin that almost tells us we are alive.  Whatever the size of the greater Universe, the Cosmos, the Milky Way – it is almost certainly true that in our Solar system everything revolves around and needs the sun.  Maybe every plant and creature understands this without being told.  Children certainly know it, as their faces come alive as the sun’s rays cross their little features.  And even the most cynical and cold-hearted of us adults know it too.

The sun is what gives us life, and without it we are all doomed.  For years I have worked in tiny airless basement offices and through the winter I travelled to and from work in darkness only to sit and slog all day and never see the sun.  Things have improved of late and mostly I can glance up and see a small patch of blue sky between the buildings opposite.  And yet for these last few months it has felt as if I were still in the basement.

So raise a glass to our old friend the sun who has come out to welcome us after a long absence.  We should celebrate because you never know this could just be the last beautiful sunny day of the year.