Something terrible is happening to this Earth that has made it warm today, however that is a very long and problematic story, so for the time being, we are just going to strip off, have a picnic and make the most of it. Hitting up the park (as is the done thing in this urban sprawl, apparently. As a bumpkin, I am more accustomed to the entire county being a stretch of green, and the areas of civilisation being the points of interest) along with all the very old and and very young of the world, we armed ourselves with a picnic and bagged a good square metre of space upon which to eat it. Our top picnic foods are: PINEAPPLE AND CHEESE (very cliché and very self-consciously retro but undeniably delicious and nutritious); OLIVES AND FETA (bring Greece to your tongue); HARD BOILED EGGS (one blob bite); SOME FRESH FRUIT (healthy); BAGUETTE (best served warm and fresh out of the stone oven with a light dusting of rustic flour atop); CHEESE SLICES (an alternative to the cubes of cheese found in the pineapple combo...preferably emmental as it is the only cheese that never gets repetitive); ACCOMPANYING CHUTNEY (I am the worlds biggest fan of chutney ever...in fact I might make an entirely chutney based post later, to truly do the fabulous creation it is justice); £1.99 for an ice cream (probs a 99 flake); COUS COUS (pre prepared by yourself, obviously); CIDER (be aware that this will make your day incredibly unproductive and may result in napping and/or enhanced sensations of fullness) and finally SOME SALT AND VINEGAR CRISPS (ties the meal together and introduces crunchy texture). Summery tunes to listen to whilst munching this veritable smorgasbord include Love and Happiness by Ernest Ranglin, 54 - 46 Was My Number by Toots and the Maytals and Rivers of Babylon by Sublime. Best digested alongside Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, which, although obviously heart wrenching and generally unfortunate for poor Tess, does have lots of nice milk maid scenes, rolling hills and general ethereal nature which seems right for the warmth of the day. In fact, there is an actual picnic of mainly strawberries in the novel, which reminds me I forgot about the most important element of all - the overpriced red...berry (?? How can it be a berry when it is so FLESHY).