TAN LINES

I guess with all the blisteringly hot weather here in london recently i'm getting all summery inside, all misty eyed, dreamin' of pimms and pina coladas, hot brown skinned boys with far away salty eyes, strawberries and cream, sandy sandwiches, the ocean lapping around my belly like a litter of wet kittens, the sun in my eyes, girls in bikinis with tan lines, tan lines are hot.....when we were kids my brothers and sister and I would keep our watches on for the whole holiday so when we got back home we had proof of how tanned we had become and who had won by being the brownest.

I believe this may have been an early foray into my competitive self.....i really gave a shit about winning. The satisfaction i gleaned from watching the white patch get brighter and brighter day by day was unrivalled, it was like secretly polishing the ultimate tan trophy that was going to be mine at the end of the trip. The luminous graphic strip felt like a tiny but very significant success story right there on my little 11 year old wrist,  just like Tom Cruise in Cocktail or Matthew Broderick in Ferris Buellers day off.