Did you know that not everybody in the world enjoys summer? Shocking, right? The shops are full of summer fashions like crop tops and ridiculously tiny shorts and uncomfortable sandals, the sun is – mostly – high in the sky, and meanwhile there are people sweating uncomfortably in front of fans and asking if they can sit in the shade every time they get dragged to a beer garden. If summer really isn’t your thing, here are some tips on how to get through it…

Get Into Swimming

Getting fit during the summer can seem like an arduous task. People talk a lot about bikini bodies, when all you really need for the perfect bikini body is to have a body and a bikini to be firmly secured onto it. If you don’t like the heat, getting fit during the summer seems like a preposterous notion. Sweating even more? Spending time under the blazing sun? Absolutely not. Out of the question. But if you’d like to feel a bit more healthy, there is one sport that you could take up: swimming. The joy of it is that you’re never too hot, and the sheer beauty of slipping into a crystal blue pool on a hot day is unmatchable. If you’re paranoid about people looking at your decidedly untoned thighs, remember that most people at pools honestly don’t care what you look like and will only spare you a second thought if you’re trying to steal their lane. 

Hole Up With Your Favourite Movies


If you’d like a summer of culture but you don’t want to spend an evening swatting away mosquitoes at an open air theatre, why not bring that summer of culture into your own home? A heavenly place where you can sit right in front of a fan, not wear trousers, and crunch ice to your heart’s content. Set yourself a project for the summer – why not watch all seven seasons of The Sopranos, or make your way through all the Stephen King movies, or take notes on the Lord of the Rings extended editions? Educate yourself this summer, in a darkened room, with a cool drink.

Take A Trip To The Fringe


A beach holiday isn’t for everyone. We don’t all like going to the Costa del Sol to get crispy-skinned and a nasty skin infection from the hotel sheets. If a package deal isn’t for you, then you could either save your pennies to spend a week in spring in Berlin, or to see the Northern Lights in Iceland – or you could go somewhere where it’s almost guaranteed to rain at least part of the time: Edinburgh. One of the most glorious cities in the world, it’s also home of the Fringe during August, which is four fun-packed weeks of shows: there’s theatre, comedy, music, dance, spoken word, and anything else that you could possibly dream of. And you almost certainly won’t get sunburned. Ideal.

This summer doesn’t have to be a pain if you’re not fond of the sun – whether you stay inside or make a getaway, you can still make it a great couple of months.