To not be excited about light nights and summer?

[hermithead]

I keep seeing posts on SM about how the light nights are here, and the better weather.

I know this is obviously preferred by a lot of people.

Personally, I'm feeling a little like I'll need to force myself to embrace that.

I've been enjoying going out a walk in the dark, knowing I'll bump into few people and that I can hide under heavy coat and hat.

It's more acceptable to stay home for days on end in the winter, and I'm all for that.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it when I do get out and socialise, etc, but at the moment I'm feeling like it's something I'll need to really gear up to.

Am I weird? Or are there others like me?

You basically don’t like light evenings because you prefer to stay in? Just stay in anyway.

I do struggle to understand/sympathise. I love the light evenings. I can take the dog for a walk in the light, I feel like I have more time. I can go for a run. The lake opens next week in the evening so I’ll go and swim.i hate driving in the dark.

Basically those who like festering under a blanket for 6 months suddenly feel pressure to go out? Is 6 months inside not enough?

It won’t be warm enough to sit outside in the garden in the evening for months - maybe the odd day in June/July. It that really that annoying for you? Last summer was dire. It was nice for a few weeks in June and September.

i understand people struggling in the heat. But let’s be honest given the incessant rain, you live in the right country and for the most part of the year you must be comfortable? I hate the cold and rain so for the most part of the year I am not (and yes I will move when I can).

Oh don't feel bad for us - I live in a flat in London and adore summer, we have lovely large windows and french doors that open on to a big balcony, we also have a tree filled shared garden. Also contrary to what some on mumsnet seem to think, we flat dwellers are allowed to leave our flats

Exactly this.

This place is just full of first world problems, people will moan about literally anything 🤦🏻😩

After the summer we had last year I’m going to have very little tolerance for these ‘oh poor me I have to get out from under my cosy blanket and actually do something’ threads.

Stay in, shut the curtains and stop moaning about the 8 days of nice weather we have in this country.

I also think that summer haters put their own twist onto the seasons and have this idea that summer is always boiling hot, humid, dry and uncomfortable. And given climate change, that is increasingly the case for sure. But summer 2023 was not like that, it was cool and wet.

July 2023 - sixth wettest on record, wettest ever for N Ireland. Cooler than average. 81% of the average sunshine.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/read-this/uk-weather-met-office-say-july-2023-was-one-of-the-wettest-on-record-as-brits-endure-wash-out-summer-4240133

Yet still the summer haters will perpetuate this myth that summer is always roasting from 1 June to 31 August. What is guaranteed is that winter on the other hand will be cold, dark and wet.

Love it, love it, love it!
I feel awake when I wake up (before 6). I feel energised.

Having said that, it's going to rain for at least another 2 weeks here, so not much light to see.

And the thought of warm, sweaty summer nights? I live in Wales, so they're pretty rare. And definitely preferable to being huddled in layer upon layer.

That’s part of what happens in an online talk forum. People posting about their opinions, feelings and experiences. Maybe you need to ask yourself why you’re taking the ‘moaning’ so personally.

Nah, I don't pretend summer here lasts three months of constant heat. That would be unbearable. Last year was fine. We had a few days where it was too hot to sleep comfortably so it wasn't too bad. But it was enough.

Today is perfect here. Sunny and warm enough to have been out on the beach for a bit of a run about for the children and a coffee for us but still in coats and it will be dark at a reasonable hour. Lovely stuff.

Not taking it personally at all, it just seems like such a non-issue - people seem to find problems where there aren’t really any but that’s just my opinion 🤷🏻‍♀️

I love the summer.

But I find waking up to the summer sun streaming through the curtains gives me a migraine more often than not. Yes, I have blackout blinds and black out linings to the curtains, but it still comes through the edge, and that's enough.
So in the summer I need to put up the edges to the curtains which blocks the light through the sides. They're kind of balanced/stuffed round, which is hard to get and on, so opening the curtains is a hassle.
I love all bits of summer except that bit.

It’s a non-issue to you but it’s a problem to me because I bloody hate the summer, generally. Just seems a bit weird you can’t accept this.

More daylight - yay

Warm weather - yay

Hot weather (anything more than say 24) - massive NAY.

I like the idea of summer more than the reality.

In my head - friends over for bbqs, evenings outside, lingering over dinner and rose, peaceful days pottering in the garden.

Reality - Crammed into a boiling hot commuter train followed by a boiling hot office, wearing uncomfortably formal office wear. Weekends spent listening to other people’s loud music at all hours. Dd complaining about wasps the minute she steps out of the house. Long planned bbqs spoiled by the rain.

I would just like A summer this year. Not random days of it.

Summer will be out there if you want it. Its not going to come banging down your door and pulling you outside by force. You are fully entitled to stay at home as much as you wish. All summer does is give you the option to go out if you want to and have it a bit warmer and lighter.

Yes I struggle to correlate this love of winter with all the threads on heating costs, damp, trying to dry clothes, mold etc.

there is a level of privalege in loving winter, being cosy and warm, as many folks can’t afford that. We are fortunate we can afford it, but we recognise the privilege.

as said though I think this is very often due to one of two reasons, either introversion/ isolation, the not wanting to go out and be seen, or feeling the perceived expectation to go out and do stuff, when in winter being home is what most folks are doing . So you don’t feel unusual then.

or a weight related issue where you don’t like the clothes, want to cover up, hide and struggle with the heat.

there are obviously other issues ie medical ones, migraines, eczema, sensory etc, but think a lot of it is down to one of those two reasons very often.

I don’t give a shit about the ‘cosiness’ of winter and I don’t fit the ‘hunkering down at home with my hot chic’ stereotype of a winter lover. I like it because of the opportunity in December to reflect on the year that’s almost gone, to come up with challenges for the new year (because of that reflection), the opportunity to see a lot of really good films at the cinema (award season in January and February), getting paid double time to work on Christmas Day, some fabulous eating out deals in January, and the run up to Christmas.

But those things don’t preclude you from enjoying summer? This thread is about people who dislike summer.

Yet still the summer haters will perpetuate this myth that summer is always roasting from 1 June to 31 August. What is guaranteed is that winter on the other hand will be cold, dark and wet.

I have noticed this. They must live in some kind of exclusive microclimate where summers are always long and hot. Last year it was the second wettest July on record where we live.

They don’t, but those things aren’t available for me in the summer, and are important to me. So because of that and not liking heat, summer is a bit shit.

Well I mean they are available year round, you can reflect at any time, you chose not to, you can make plans at any time, you chose not to, you can go to the cinema in the summer, plenty of good movies year round, there is also good eating out deals,

thr only thing missing is the run up to Xmas,and getting paid double time to work it.

the rest you can easily do, no one is stopping you.

No, they’re not all available in the summer, and some nowhere near the same amount they are in Winter (eating out deals, for example).

Indeed is we really had hot sunny weather for those dates then sure bring on autumn and winter. But frankly it’s cool-cold wet and grey most of the year compared to the few days and weeks of genuinely nice warm sunshine we get and no I don’t count sunny days with a huge downpour half way though the day because that’s messed up the day too.

and yes too hot is not fun as someone a wee bit overweight 😳 but frankly it’s also cheaper than a cold wet day trying to keep everyone warm and drying clothes. Winter is just pure eugh let’s get though it the end is in sight type weather to hopefully grab some nice dry warm days.

I am absolutely with you on this @hermithead I haven't read all the responses as scrolling gives me massive motion sickness and I can't be doing with that today, but that's another story.
But yes, I think have reverse SAD and dread the light nights. There seems to be so much pressure to be out and about doing lovely things, trying not to waste your days, but as a mega procrastinor, this time of year feels like a heavy weight. I prefer to hide in the dark. Saying that, I'm very much an outdoors person and love a run or a walk, but at the slightest hint of sun and warmth I feel like everyone throws their clothes away and walks around in tiny shorts and it just gets on my nerves. I don't know what it is but I really don't like it. However, when the light nights come to an end, I weirdly miss them....