Summer Skin

For one month of the year Londoners, oddly, shed their inhibitions and strip to the bare minimum. Men show their man boobs and pale white skin; women hike their skirt and present their bra with the aim of bronzing themselves. All this in the smart part of town. During lunch hour. In the middle of the work week. 

Mind you, these same people spend the rest of year trying to conceal their wobbly bits and otherwise seem embarrassed by their bodies. Britain missed Jane Fonda and aerobics and all that and when I arrived in '97 gym memberships a rarity let alone bottled water (I reviewed a consumer water investment for Botts which I rejected; after my departure the firm waded into the industry and lost its shirt). 

In most European countries, Ireland excluded thank goodness, exposure taken for granted and, well, considered part of being European. Topless beaches the norm; women seem comfortable with themselves. So why different here? Well, firstly, the weather mostly pretty bad then the world's best by Wimbledon. 

The extremes stimulate a certain desire for display: no sun then sun burn. The media plays its role to, of course - programs like "How To Look Good Naked" teach us to loath what we have and then flaunt it when we can. Advertising. Madeleine announces the other week that she is fat.

London no different from any other Big City - I recall NY's 'Sheep's Meadow' which is café flesh by July or August. What makes London's summers unusual that the British are so not about display. Everything understated: slanders never obvious; privates should remain so. Public displays for the holidays abroad (Barcelona has introduced clothing guidelines for its tourists. Read: the English). And yet here we are, oggling each other in Regent's Park.

Young people, no doubt, changing the culture. By summer they arrive in hordes from Australia, Europe, everywhere with their back-backs and travel passes heading for Bayswater and Queensway where they congregate in Hyde Park then the pubs and disco's. They are out for fun and to see the world - London is a top destination because, well, it is London. They push the boundaries. Ultimately it is the yuf, more than anything else, that sets the pace for the rest of us. We should go with it.