Are those puppies on a lead?

In London, for many, when the sun comes out, the clothes come off. It doesn’t matter where you are. Or what state of preparedness your body is in. And you don’t even have to give a public health warning.

So anytime, in the summer in London, semi-nakedness – and well-nigh full nakedness, believe me – can strike. Coming from a land of generally endless sunshine – annoying, I know – I don’t quite get the obsession with public, high street flashes of flesh in the interests of soaking in the sun. I have noticed that people strip off their shirts in the high street, at restaurants, pubs, you name it. Some sights are so offensive, I think they deserve an *ASBO.

There we were, my husband and me, wandering innocently through Kensington Palace Gardens a few weeks ago when we saw a young woman emerging from the public loos wearing a skimpy bikini, with no swimming pool or beach in sight. A few minutes later, our eyes were accosted by a sight which was, well, frightening: a well-endowed and, as my granny used to say, stout lady, who had been lying on her stomach, sunbathing, decided to turn over. And as we all know, the bigger the ship, the harder it is to change direction. She lumbered her burnt pink self on to her bottom, sat up and then lay down flat on her back. What I haven’t yet mentioned is that she was clad in nothing but a G-string. Only just. Eeuww.

So, if the sun comes out, and you’re going to bear your flesh in public, pull everything else in and at least wear some sunblock. And keep those puppies on a lead.

Sunshine signing out for today …

*  Wikipedia’s definition of an ASBO: In the United Kingdom, an ASBO may be issued in response to “conduct which caused or was likely to cause harm, harassment, alarm or distress, to one or more persons not of the same household as him or herself and where an ASBO is seen as necessary to protect relevant persons from further anti-social acts by the Defendant.”