AH! SUMMER IS HERE and I am at my laptop in the garden, squinting to make out the screen, breathing in the drifting chemical whiff of a hundred disposable barbecues as our corner of East Dulwich aims to accelerate climate change with a global flip of the Gordon Ramsey burger. It has all gone quiet now but have no fear because at sunrise tomorrow, our neighbours will once again release their small children into the atmosphere to yell in a garden not four feet from my own. I once suffered the ignominy of a smiling delegation from a few doors down who got together to grumble about the noise my own kids were making outside, so I banned anyone under five foot from going near the back door before 10am. They would watch with envy as our cat, Pigeon, lifted the catflap to escape silkily to freedom.



















