Ben Lowry: London in early summer is a pleasant place to be

I am less confident than I was in one of my predictions, that Covid would change things permanently due to the ability to home work, thus reducing the demand for living in big cities.

This, I thought, would be good for places like Northern Ireland, where people can have a high quality of life, while working for a London (or even American or French etc) based firm.

The reason I am unsure of this is that the London tube and other parts of the city seem almost as crowded as they once did. Flats are as expensive as ever. And even if the pandemic does change aspects of our lifestyle it will not have reduced the desire people have to see the world — and so tourist hotspots like London might soon be as congested as they were pre 2020.

The climate in London has been much as it always is in the UK’s capital city during the Wimbledon season — mostly warm, often sunny, but variable and occasionally rainy.

The weather in the southeast of England is generally pleasant at this time of year. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, July — while it doesn’t have days quite as gloriously long as June — tends to be a better month than August, the latter part of which in the Province often has a gloomy, autumnal air.

A well travelled relative of mine said once that he rarely left Northern Ireland between May and August, because it was so pleasant to be at home. Increasingly, I agree.

Global warming is a challenge for societies around the world. I do not mean to be flippant about such profound problems when I say that we might be fortunate to live in the sort of mild, often chilly and damp conditions about which we complain.

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor

• Ben Lowry main column here: This is a rare time when the UK is prepared to clash with Ireland