Il Sole

The sun makes everything good, doesn't it? Makes almost everywhere beautiful.
That's why people flee to places with sun -- to retire there, vacation there, just GET IN THAT SUN for awhile.
There's a show on TV here called Places in the Sun, which features a British couple each episode who are considering buying a property in a sunny place -- usually in the Mediterranean -- or one in England.
They say what their budget is, and where they're considering, both here and abroad. Then a real estate agent in each place shows them three properties in each locale -- and they decide by the end of the half-hour.
They're always lured by the sun, these folks, but they often decide to stay at home.
The comfort and familiarity of home. Versus the soothing and healing powers of the sun. Makes for good television.
What makes the show interesting to me, besides seeing all the properties and how much they cost of course, is watching the couples, often retirees, work through their dilemmas, their desires, their life plans, and then coming to their conclusions. And why they decide what they do.
Back to the sun.
It's so damned important.
It's been sunny the last two days here, just clear and bright and sparkly autumn. And it's supposed to stay sunny and warm all week.
How gorgeous. London is so beautiful in the sun.
I wish it was always sunny. It's so much easier to be happy.
Yesterday, before my old ladies Pilates class (which is really quite good), a group of us were standing around talking about the weather. As one does here.
I was saying how gorgeous it was.
A woman chimed in, saying, yes, but where's the rain? We haven't had enough of it. It's gotta come at some point.
Bummer.
Another woman remarked that she thought the weather had actually changed in Britain.
Liked that.
She said that when she came to London from Croatia 17 years ago, she didn't see the sun for the first two years. That she was so depressed, she could barely leave the house. She comes from the sunny Croatian coast, she explained.
Didn't like that.
She said it's been changing though. It just doesn't rain anywhere near as much as it used to.
I thought back over the past eight months. There hasn't been a huge amount of rain, she's right.
We had a gorgeous spring, I remember that.
The summer wasn't that great, but I was in Italy for a lot of it, thank god.
So far, autumn hasn't been too bad.
I'm scared of winter, I won't lie.
But maybe my new Croatian Pilates-buddy, who sounds more British than anything else (I guess she got over her depression), is right.
Maybe the weather in Britain has changed.
I like that, even though, I know any weather change is scary.
Anyway, gotta go out for a walk in this dazzling afternoon sunshine.
Before it becomes a distant memory.