Evening Standard - ES Magazine
Laura Craik looks for purpose now that the sun is gone in UPFRONT
Laura Craik bids farewell to a long, lost summer, attempts to bond with her teenager over art and warms to the new Bake Off
Every year, I take the passing of summer as a personal insult. ‘This is the last Magnum I will eat in my bikini on my lounger in my garden until May 2021,’ I intoned, gazing down at my fluorescent pink toenails and wondering just what grimness lay ahead, and what fate would contrive to have me do to fill my days between now and Christmas. And then the dog did a s*** on the grass. Dogs are good that way. They give you a purpose. And purpose is what most of us need. When my work dried up between March and September, my purpose became ‘sunbathing’, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I am scared — truly scared — of what my purpose will be, or rather won’t be, without the sun’s munificent rays validating my nothing-to-do-ness with a cause.
The sun makes everything better. Difficult as the last lockdown was, still there were golden evenings in the park, drinking beer in plastic pint glasses bought from enterprising pubs that had pivoted to offer take-outs. There isn’t a picnic blanket in the world big enough to house the lonely who are desperate to meet friends over winter, when rain and wind have voided London’s parks from usage more effectively than any police officer ever could. Those complaining about pubs and restaurants remaining open might like to remember that not everyone is lucky enough to live with people they love, like or even feel safe with. Whether you loved the last lockdown or hated it depends not so much on whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert as whether you’re a thinker or a doer. I need to do, but think too much about how bad I’d be at doing the things I’d like to that I talk myself out of doing them. While others set up businesses, I obsess over the mouldy grouting in the shower, yet fail to do anything about that either.
Our worlds may be about to shrink, but our mindsets needn’t follow. You can do anything you put your mind to. But if your purpose is cooking dinner, buying grout cleaner or even just gathering the will to get out of bed, that’s okay. We can’t all change the world. But in our own small ways, we can all help save it.