Has it ever occurred to you that we are very strange at times? Most of us in the temperate climate of the U.K. long for sunny days; we yearn for the sunshine all through the grey days of winter. We start to plan summer holidays often escaping to the warmer more guaranteed sunshine of the Mediterranean area or beyond. When spring arrives we get excited at the sight of sunshine and find sheltered spots to soak up the warm of the bright sun.

There are people who genuinely suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder who experience depression throughout the dull winter months. Sufferers resort to winter sun holidays or more regular treatment with exposure in special light boxes. Whether we are one of those blighted with this disorder or not we all equate sunshine with being cheerful, warm and tanned.

In fact if we believe the television adverts we cannot be happy, successful or sexually attractive without a sun tan. Now we have recognised the potential harm of obtaining such a tan naturally from the sun we are now encouraged to replicate this from a bottle! Life could not possibly be acceptable without that tan!

The irony is that once we arrive at this foreign destination for our 2 weeks guaranteed sun what do we do? We turn on the air-conditioning in the hotel room saying it is too hot. We spend a fortune on expensive sunscreen creams to protect our skin, buy hats that often look faintly ridiculous to shade our faces and cover our selves with the shawl or T-shirt! Not that we are perverse creatures at all!

However I will be lapping up the sun as eagerly as any of my fellow countrymen this year. Even if our holiday is in the U.K. I will be using the sunscreen, protecting my eyes but deliberately soaking up the warmth of the sun because - "Hey it makes me feel better"! No doubt I will bemoan the sapping heat of the hottest days, forgetting how I complained about the cold weather and said I could not wait for the summer. So I guess I am a very normal "Brit" - never quite satisfied ansd always obsessed with the weather!