Editorial: Long, hot summer lies ahead

It is the first day of December and the first day of summer - for most.

For a quick check on the colourful websites that inhabit webland reveals there are some who believe the first day of summer is December 11.

There are also those who won't have a word of summer talk until December 22, which is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year.

Then again, there are others who suggest that being the longest day, that must be mid-summer.

Which, if that were the case, means that summer will end 22 days after that ... around January 13.

I suspect they were victims of sunstroke when posting such beliefs.

Let's stick to December 1, it's much easier to remember.

I was told a couple of days ago that there are pohutukawa in the north in full bloom already ... which means a long, hot summer is in store.

They may well be right, as the boffins at Niwa are watching a lazy weather pattern called a La Nina wallowing about in the tropical Pacific.

It has no immediate bad intentions, like the blustering and drought-igniting El Ninos.

We in the Bay, like the rest of the land, are in for an average to above average summer.

Warmth, but not excessive, and sunshine mingled with clouds from the east.

The beaches will beckon and the rain umbrellas will be swapped for the sunshine variety.

To me, it doesn't feel like it has been a long time coming as the feared months of winter raced past and hold no terrible memories ... it wasn't bad was it?

So here we are. Summer. Already.

Soon the children will end their schooling for the year and after three days will declare: "I'm bored."

Soon you'll have to work out how to get the mower running as the grass is growing noticeably by the hour.

Oh, and as of next Sunday it will be just three weeks to Christmas.

Where did that year go? ... I've still got the dried remains of last year's tree behind the garage.