What a good enough summer looks like
- Laura Martin
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Summer on social media can look like a lot: plane journeys to exotic destinations, theme parks, days out that cost more than a week's food shop. If we scroll for long enough it starts to feel like everyone else has cracked some code we have missed.
Caring often means the summer that everyone else seems to be having, with the suitcases and the sunsets, is simply not available to us. But that doesn’t mean summer itself is off the table; it just means it appears differently, in the smaller, quieter moments that are easy to miss if we’re looking for something bigger.
As unpaid carers ourselves, we think a "good enough summer" still counts, whether that’s a paddling pool in the garden, an ice cream in the park or eating dinner outside. It doesn’t need a passport or a plan, it just needs to feel, even briefly, like summer.
We asked our Mobilise community what makes summer feel like summer - the small, easy or free things that don’t need a caring routine to make room for anything bigger. Here is what came back.
What our community said
One carer told us about putting on a really nice summer dress, one she might otherwise save for a special occasion that never seems to turn up these days, and just enjoying wearing it. Another described wandering into the garden first thing in the morning, before it gets too hot, with a cuppa and a word puzzle, and sitting among greenery for a few minutes before the day's routine begins. For another carer, it’s a box of ice creams or ice lollies in the freezer, alongside ice cubes for cold drinks - small, cheap nods to summer which are always there when needed.
A good summer, one person said, means getting some books read. One that scares you, one that makes you laugh and one that makes you cry, all read sitting outside. Someone else told us about a tomato salad made with tomatoes picked straight from the garden. And one carer is making do with baby plum tomatoes from Morocco, imagining herself eating them there with her husband, a trip she had always hoped to take.
That last one stayed with us because a good enough summer shouldn’t mean giving up on our bigger dream. It’s somehow a way of still holding onto it, giving us a small taste of somewhere we hoped to be one day, but enjoyed right where we are now.
A few more ideas
We wanted to add some of our own suggestions to the list too:
Eating lunch outside, even if it is only the back step for ten minutes.
A 99 from an ice cream van.
A cold drink in a "nice" glass instead of whatever is nearest to hand.
Watching TV with the doors open and the sound of the garden coming in.
Putting flowers, even a bunch from the supermarket, somewhere you will actually see them.
Taking one ‘summery’ nature photo each day, building an album to look back on.
None of these need much planning, money or childcare - they just need noticing.
Good enough is enough
There's no test to pass here. A good enough summer isn't just a smaller version of a "real" one, it’s simply the one that fits around the life we’re actually living this year. If our caring routine doesn’t leave room for anything bigger, that’s not a failure of summer - it’s just what’s true right now, and there’s still room in it for a paddling pool, a tomato salad or a dress that finally gets worn.
We think that matters more than it sounds. When the version of summer we're shown repeatedly is always the big one, it's easy to feel like we are somehow doing it wrong, or that our version does not count, but it does count. A cuppa in the garden before the day starts is not a consolation prize, it is summer, just as much as a beach holiday or a trip to a theme park. Let’s notice the good enough days, that are already taking place in gardens, parks and in the freezer drawer up and down the country.
