Dan Morris: Spring in my step

While jolly old Don and his cheeky antics have been causing a stir across the world, at least we have been enjoying a gorgeous spell of UK sunshine.

Here’s hoping that when it decides to skip across the Atlantic back to Florida, we don’t have to pay 10 per cent on it.

Still, despite the glorious rays that have been burning down, am I the only one who’s wanted to stay inside and catch up with a bit of couch potatoing? Apparently not…

Let me be clear: I love the sun, and I’m an outdoors guy.

Lately, however, I’ve been feeling inexplicably cream crackered and have felt compelled to just simply spread myself across the sofa and relish a bit of Mortal Kombat. 

I’ve fought against this urge, all too aware that this could be the summer of 2025, right here, right now, and being determined to make the most of it.

With this spirit keeping my desperate need to be lethargic at bay, last Saturday I packed Sproglet, Dad and doggo into the car for a bit of wholesome family fun at one of our region’s most beautiful bodies of water.

Anticipating said serene lake to have been packed to the rafters with sunseekers great and small, I’d had what I thought was the necessary nous to pre-book.

I was flabbergasted when this turned out not to have been the case.

Its shores weren’t empty, yet for 1pm on the most glorious Saturday of the year so far, the lake was hardly chock-a-block.

Let’s put it this way – in the clubbing world, burly bouncers would hardly have been required (you’d definitely have got away with trainers) and a clicker would have been an indulgence for any doorman.

Feeling the sun beat so strongly that my lone T-shirt felt like it was suffocating my chest, I just couldn’t believe that more people hadn’t had the same idea as us. 

Days didn’t get any more beautiful, and entry to this place was cheap (less than £6 in total for an adult, a toddler and an OAP, don’t you know).

Even when the rain pours, the spot in question is one of the most picturesque in all the land. So, where was everybody?

I can only come to two conclusions: either, like me, everyone had expected the beauty spot and others like it to be overly busy, and had therefore chosen to avoid it; or, they simply hadn’t allowed the glorious weather to pressure them.

And I very much hope it was the latter.

In Britain, a good spell of cracking weather can be so rare that we can at times feel overly beholden to ‘making the most of it’. 

This can mean an arduous trek to the beach when you’d really have preferred the paddling pool in the back garden, or forcing yourself to light the barbecue when really you had your heart set on a chippy tea.

Saturday was one of the most wonderful and enjoyable days I’ve had in a long time, but in truth, this was nothing to do with the weather – this was down to being with my three favourite beings on the planet and revelling in their company.

You don’t need any sunshine with my lot; they always bring plenty of their own.

That being said, the gorgeous weather did make it possible to see the unbridled joy in my two-year-old’s face as she watched her best pal pup swim for the first time.

Never did a more perfect moment exist, and I will treasure the memory of it forever.

Even more gorgeous though was the fact that when we got home and all slobbed on the sofa together, the feeling of the day was the same.

Everyone was giggling, and none of us had a care in the world apart from what we might do for dinner.

It’s never what you do, it’s who you’re with, and to all those who gave in to the call of the couch potato gods last Saturday, I salute you.

I find it impossible to resist diving in to the great outdoors when the sunshine makes an appearance, but perhaps this is sometimes a bit of a neurotic hang-up.

Family time spent on the go is brilliant, but family time doing nothing is equally precious.

Out enjoying nature’s beauty, or at home having a cuddle, my daughter’s cheeky smile and my father’s laugh are the same.

Both of them are about the people, not the place, and as such are a constant source of inspiration to me, and a reminder of what in life is most important.

Let’s hope their tune doesn’t change when the rain rears its head again…