British Summer Time - a date for the diary

It’s a busy time in the allotment and in the diary. With the spring equinox, the start of British Summer Time and the Easter break in close succession and two May bank holidays not so far away the rings around the dates on the calendar on my phone are looking a bit like the Olympic logo. With lockdown easing perhaps I’ll be able to add a few cautious social events soon too!

Talking of lockdown, I’m still working from home and have flexible hours which means I’m able to look after the plants I’m bringing on at home more easily than usual. I’m can put them outside when conditions allow and water them in my many ‘walk-away-from-the-screen’ breaks. This means I’m not rushing to do my watering before heading out to work at six in the morning, dashing round with the watering can whilst eating my dinner in the evening or, as sometimes happens, allowing them to get bone dry in the week and soaking them at the weekend. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Lockdown does restrict your communication with colleagues though. On Saturday night, thinking about the clocks springing forward a hour, I wondered if I would have the annual conversation about British Summer Time with one of my colleagues by video conference instead of in person this year. The days after the clocks change seem to be cold and wet by tradition and the conversation will go something like this:

‘Ha! British Summer Time? British Summer Time? It doesn’t look much like summer to me!’

‘It’s not summer, it’s only just spring. According to the Meteorological Office March, April and May are the months of spring and astronomically spring doesn’t start until March the twenty first, so it’s not actually summer, it’s only just spring.’

‘Why’s it called British Summer Time then?’

‘Because British Spring, Summer and Early Autumn Time is a bit too much of a mouthful I think’

Drinks in the garden

Unusually the sun shone and the temperature reached 20 degrees in our back garden as British Summer Time arrived.

But guess what? This year the conversation didn’t happen! Not in person and not via Zoom. Instead the sun shone and the temperature in our back garden here in Wiltshire reached a balmy twenty degrees. Taking advantage of the extended daylight hours we were able to enjoy our first gin and tonic and beer in the garden of the year whilst considering what jobs we might do around the garden over the coming holiday weekend.

Now there’s a date for the diary: March 29th 2021 - drinks in the garden. I’ll put a ring around that one!