Summer's here

NOW that summer is here, we've been getting out and about as much as possible with Harry. Unlike this time last year, when Harry was too little to take a great deal of notice of the world around him, he's now desperate to touch everything.It's great - often hilarious - watching him discover the world outside.

He's fascinated by soil, plants, chippings, grass – just about everything in fact. You can be walking around the garden with him when he'll suddenly stop bend over and pick up something that has caught his eye, and this is when you have to be on your toes as it can very quickly end up in his mouth as I found out at the weekend.We've got a few outdoor toys for Harry, including a sand table that is proving very popular. Melissa and I make sandcastles while Harry takes great pleasure in smashing them up.

The other day, Harry and I were outside playing in the sand when Harry decided to find out what it tasted like. Before I could stop him, he'd grabbed a handful of wet sand and was shoving it in his mouth - judging by his reaction, it wasn't a very pleasant experience.

One of the downsides of being outdoors is trying to protect Harry from the sun. Melissa is, quite rightly, very cautious about it, so he can't leave the house without being plastered with sun cream.

Unfortunately for Harry, he takes after me and isn't blessed with a thick head of hair. This means that his scalp is exposed and, even with cream, he still needs a hat. Now Harry doesn't like hats at all so when we started insisting he wear a hat, we had plenty of tears and tantrums.

However, we stood firm on the issue and every time he Harry took his hat off, we immediately took him inside. Now he got used to the idea and will keep the hat on for long periods - he'll even try and put it back on himself if it falls off, with varying degrees of success.Still, it's great to be out and about with him. I just hope we have a decent summer this year so we can make the most of it.

Summer arrives...

Summer has actually arrived, although for how long is anyone's guess. The weekend was glorious, and I managed to spend plenty of time outside (mainly, trimming the hedge for what seems like the twentieth time this year).

Warm weather also encourages drinking. There are few more pleasant experiences than sitting outside pub, beer in hand, watching the world go by. Somehow, the beer tastes nicer. In fact, it's one of the main reasons I like to go abroad on holiday; even though the beer served abroad is invariably lager, I still manage to drink and enjoy it. In Britain, I'd rather have a nice cup of tea than a pint of lager.

But when the fine weather arrives in this country, it's even better. On Thursday, I was able to sit outside my local, The Bridge Inn (or The Trap to those in the know), and enjoy a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord - a fine pint of ale - with my dad. We sat on the terrace outside the pub, enjoying spectacular views of the aqueduct and viaduct, drinking beer and eating pork scratchings. And what could be better than that?