Still at the Cottage by Charles Gordon

Author:Charles Gordon [Gordon, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55199-414-7
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2006-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Sun Used to Be Your Friend

Twenty years ago, only visionaries and cranks recognized the evil qualities of the sun. They would go out in it rarely, and then sit muttering in shade, covered in clothing and a large shapeless hat.

Nowadays that description fits a lot of us, scared silly of the sun’s properties. It’s hard to ignore what we read, even if it goes against everything we were brought up to believe. We used to know that the sun was good for you. It would cure your colds, dry out your poison ivy, improve your mood, and above all, turn your skin an attractive darker shade.

Now we are told that isn’t true. The sun is our enemy, all the more so because it is outwardly so attractive, a Jezebel, luring us out of doors when we should be indoors sorting cards to see if there is a deck that has fifty-two, plus jokers.

The more political of us will refuse to accept that this has always been true about the sun. If the sun is no longer our friend, it’s because something or someone has turned it against us. There’s that famous hole in the ozone layer. That could be it. The hole in the ozone layer was put there by all of us innocently spraying deodorant and hairspray around because we were persuaded to by the evil capitalists advertising on our TVs.

Comforting as that thought may be, the fact remains: the sun isn’t as much of a friend as we once thought it was, and that realization has changed cottage life in significant ways.

For one thing, it has made people put on some really stupid-looking hats. For another, it has spawned a vast range of new products – do the capitalists have no shame? – alleged to protect us. Each year, the numbers on the sunscreens and sunblocks go higher and higher, an inevitable progression, mirroring the size of television screens. One year’s 10 becomes last year’s 30 and now people are wearing 40, and that’s not as high as it goes. In happier days, the days of our parents’ suntans, people put on something called suntan lotion, to increase the effect of the sun’s rays.

Not everyone participates in the sunscreening – at the cottage, as in other walks of life, there are renegades – but now the non-participants get nagged, which is an unfortunate new development for them. Worse, elements of the style world have given support to the naggers by decreeing that pasty white is actually the most attractive shade for a white person to be. The tanned look is no longer to be desired, since it is either the product of an unhealthy lifestyle or the chemical representation of one.

However, opinion on this is not unanimous. Tan is still considered attractive by many people and magazines. And progress marches on, bringing a vast range of new products designed to get you that attractive darker shade without actually venturing out into the sun. Newspapers solemnly test them and announce the results.

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