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Summer Breeze

I've got all the windows open and there's the most amazing breeze going through the apartment/flat (choose your own local terminology). All hail cross-ventilation. If there were any jasmine in my mind, I'm sure it would be being blown.

Apparently the gated garden outside our flat has become clothing optional. While ball games are forbidden, it seems a round of naked tag and then a romp in the pink paddling pool are encouraged.

The naturist 3 year olds have taken over. And they couldn't be having more fun. I'm a little jealous.

What a great day it's been. Apologies to all those stuck in an office, but I spent the day wandering around Hampstead Heath. And, no, I did not get naked. I started on the northwest corner of the park and rambled through various paths for a couple hours. It was a really lovely walk amidst the local flora and fauna.

I came across a familiar species that I haven't seen since my last trip to the Cape. These critters must be relatives of the Provincetown sand dune prairie dogs ... you know, the half-naked men who pop up out of the dunes, looking for similar members of their species (well, they're probably looking for any member). Up they come, their heads swivel left to right a couple times, and then down they go, back into their hiding place. A human whack-a-mole. The creatures indigenous to Hampstead Heath seem to be a little paler than those in Ptown, and their habitats are patches of tall, dry grass which often adjoin bushy shrub-like growth.

Down by the ponds, the sun bathing creatures seem less feral, equiped with bottles of water, headphones and tanning lotion. I didn't come prepared with a towel or blanket, and grass makes me itchy, so I just sauntered about, taking in the local color.

The view from Parliment Hill is much more panoramic than I'd expected. And me without my camera.

I'm sure people will be complaining about the "heatwave" we're having here, but I think it's lovely ... and I don't usually like hot weather. Yeah, it may be 90° (30°+ C), but the humidity is low and it's going to last all of what, 3-5 days? It's nothing like the humid muckiness I've lived through in New Orleans, Houston and New York.

I guess it's all relative (humidity).

To all my friends and family back in the States, have a great 4th.

Happy Birthday to him (and thanks for letting me be a part of the stag hag do on Saturday; spending the day half-hammered with Scotland Yard's finest is a new highlight of my drinking career).