Star comment: Seize the summer
Fresh air – the taste of freedom.
Being able to go on a run again with other people is a joy of the unlocking of lockdown Britain. At the weekend an army of runners took part in a variety of parkruns across our region in a big comeback after a Covid-imposed break of 73 weeks.
The health benefits of running are so well appreciated that you are tempted to ask whether the long and well intentioned absence will turn out to have done more health harm, in denying people the chance to keep fit alongside others in this manner, than good.
From the start the experts have told us that being outside lowers the risk of spreading the infection. While folk have been encouraged to exercise during the pandemic, it is not the same doing it on your own, and being with other enthusiasts in a shared activity is the spur that lifts some folk from the sofa and into the great outdoors.
After all, elite sportspeople like Premier League footballers have been allowed to continue their sport, and a largely blind eye has been turned to their hugging, so why have ordinary people been denied the opportunity for mass involvement sport for so long?
Talking about the great outdoors, take a peek at our eight pages today of summer fun activities and destinations that you can enjoy without breaking the bank.
The schools are on holiday, the kids need to be entertained, and you need a break yourself.
There is so much to do, and so little time, because while we enjoy long hours of daylight and the hope of fine weather that the British summer brings, we are almost into August, which means in just a few weeks we'll be into September with the autumn looming and in no time at all you'll be wanting to put the heating on.
The summer is slipping through our fingers. And without wanting to get too gloomy, nobody can be sure that the course of this pandemic will not result in us having further restrictions on what we can do imposed on us in coming weeks.
In the current circumstances, if you leave until tomorrow what you could do today, you might lose the opportunity to do it at all.
Seize the day. Seize the summer.
