Uckfield Matters Magazine - August 19 #144

communitymatters
wellbeingmatters
Simply Summer
by Michelle Pearce
Well here we are – August – one of the calendar’s true high-points when many of us
take time off, whether it is a week or two away from home or the bank holiday weekend
at the end of the month.
Whatever you do try to make time for a little
stillness this August, to sit or lie in an open
place, idle away a few hours, and savour
this warmest time of year. Sounds like a fine
excuse for a good old-fashioned picnic to
me!
time and time again, can taste so very good!
I wonder what your childhood picnics
consisted of? I wonder how they would taste
today? And if you don’t yet have a picnic
tradition, I wonder what you would put on
Most of my ‘70s childhood picnics were
endured behind a wind-break on the
windswept beaches of North Devon. Mum
and Dad perched on their chairs, him
hiding beneath his hallmark floppy hat, her
gazing wistfully out to sea, us kids inevitably
shivering beneath damp towels after an
over-optimistic encounter with the sea.
Otherwise our picnics were soggy Dartmooraffairs,
taken battened down in wellies and
anoraks. ‘Making the most of a poor day’,
it was called. But whatever the weather
picnics always and truly lift my heart – it is
amazing how the simplest of foods, eaten
outdoors (or crunched into a Ford Anglia)
the menu were you to start one this August?
Whilst I have experimented with all kinds
of formats over the years, for me nothing
quite beats those childhood picnics. I think
it is time for me to buy a pack of crusty
rolls, stuff them with ham, get a paper bag
of English tomatoes, some Golden Wonder
crisps, a Mr Kipling apple pie, throw down
an old rug in one of Uckfield’s lovely parks
and while away a few hours.
No phone, no stuff to do, just me, munching
away, watching the world do its thing for a
hour or two, and when I’ve had my fill, lying
back on the earth cloud-watching.
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