Summer Lovin'

I don't think I'd do very well on Come Dine With Me, much as I like watching it. I've proven a very shoddy hostess today, as all my well-meaning plans to host my grand blog house-party fell to bits. So I'm going to have to save the party for another day. Never fear, we'll be cracking open the wine and clucking sympathetically at my 'this house is full of spiders' stories soon enough!

But for all you wine-lovers out there, I have to sneak this in: Stone's Ginger Wine. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I've never really liked wine, and until we moved into the house, I never drank it much. Now I drink the ginger wine pretty darn often, it's lovely!

I think the one of the reasons wine has grown on me is the summer. I mentioned our heatwave yesterday, which has been only a small part of this year's English summer. Yes, there's been sun. Gasp. There's been sun in England. There've been whole days when it didn't rain, I mean, can you imagine?

Irony aside, the summer's been gorgeous. I've actually been able to get great wear out of my summer sandals and sunglasses, I've been able to wear what I like - it's even been hot enough that I've stopped boasting that 'I'm Indian, I can take the heat'... erm, yeah. Apparently I can't take the heat all that much.

The downside? The summer hasn't done much good for my writing. When I'm not involved in house stuff, I'm looking for a job, so my writing time is limited already as it is. When I do have the time, it's too lovely outside to stay by a laptop much. More significantly, it's too warm to sit still for long, to concentrate on my story. Even when the story's begging to be written, I find I can't stay focused on it long. Any suggestions on how to fix this that doesn't involve expensive air conditioning?

How do you spend your summer weekends? What do you like best and least about the summer? How does it inspire you - or cut away at your inspiration?