All or nothing

Who needs the Riviera, who needs the long journey south in search of the sun, we have it

in bucketfuls. The temperature, in the 30s is hot enough for me, it drives me to search for the amber fluid and the shade of a parasol in the pub garden. I remember the heat of Joburg, the parties we had, mostly centred around the briaa, we glugged our beer, our brandy and cokes, slowly dissolving into happy, tongue tied mumbling replicas of who we used to be. A chicken leg in the one hand and a glass of something in the other we were the centre of our universe and unconcerned about anything else. There was of course the issue of the "Commissar" who's restless obsession to limit the amount one enjoyed ones-self was off-set by an equal and opposite obsession to ignore the the call to behave. There was always a penalty to be paid but through the blearily eyes of the party it was lost in translation. The extra hype of being amongst fuelled-up friends was contagious and we had a sense of the empowerment to belong.
So we are experiencing a heat wave. Next week there is more of the same and the TV is full of warnings about the problems that too much heat brings.  In some ways it is a pity that a good thing has to be cast in the phraseology of Health & Safety.   "Be careful".   It's a default condition, the control condition, which through the media we pick up and accept as a norm. There is no happy medium its all or nothing, conform or be demonised !!