It’s my son’s first sports day and it’s been, mostly, wonderful. One drawback is that it’s been hatefully hot and we find ourselves entirely without shade in an open sports field. No one seems as bothered by the heat as me. Sure, the other parents do join me in bemoaning the bracing, spotlight heat screaming at us like a comically powerful sci-fi death ray. But their complaints are just that – complaints: delivered with all the irritation of a lost hat or a missed bin collection.
I, on the other hand, am very near death and trying to be stoical about it all, with very little success. Perhaps sensing my pinched smile, my faxpaper-pale skin, or the fact I keep saying, ‘It’s too hot, I will probably die,’ they offer me consolation, water and sun cream, and I do my best to focus on the events at hand.
