summer at last!

While New Jersey & New York have been basking in the summer sunshine, London was dull and rainy.

The caryatids of St Pancras Church

Summer flowers like the delphinium bloomed bravely in the face of constant damp, wet winds and thunderstorms.

But this week temperatures soared and the city changed. A sunny weekend led to blazing sunshine over the next few days and Londoners were ready to make the most of it.

People turned out in force to walk by the canal, picnic in the parks, and enjoy the rays. The small fluffy cygnets of spring are now almost fully grown, their proud parents glowing in the full sun.

We revisited the Barbican gardens to see how they were after months of rain - and they were flourishing.

Water plants seemed to be soaking up sunshine as determinedly as the locals.

 Plants of many species and colours were bursting with flowers.

Even hardy succulents were putting out blooms.

Well past 6pm it was still warm and welcoming outside. We caught the last of the sun at the Regent's Park. This park comes under the parish of St. Pancras, one of England's most famous and venerated saints. A relief sculpture near the Camden gate describes the saint's martyrdom in the Roman arena.

The gate is also watched over by the Matilda Fountain, a once-functional font of natural rocks topped with a Victorian bronze statue of a country girl with a water pail at her feet.

We ate a jumbled picnic in the last of the sunshine and strolled across the green. We came out of the trees after sunset and saw one last gorgeous London sight. Directly across from the still-glowing dusk, the full moon was rising like a hot-air balloon by the BT Tower. No smartphone picture could have done it justice, but we certainly tried our best.

It was the perfect end to a perfect summer day.