FINALLY.

At last. Not before time.

We can retrieve the barbecue equipment from the garage, get rid of the cobwebs, and fire it up using the briquettes we optimistically bought ages ago. We can stock the fridge with beers or wine, and invite the neighbours around, one pleasant evening after work.

We can get round to opening the Factor 25 sunscreen that we last used on holiday abroad. And, if we are so inclined, we can indulge ourselves in the culture broadly defined as 'taps aff', irrespective of whether or not the boss approves of such practices during office hours.

The reason for all of this unusual behaviour? Reports of a heatwave across parts of the UK: temperatures are expected to reach the mid-to-high 20s in Scotland.

We are drearily familiar with patchy Scottish summers, to the point where, when June brings rain and grey skies, our gloomy assumption is that yet another summer will be a wash-out. There have been times when, with ill-disguised envy, we watched TV coverage of sun-drenched Wimbledon while cursing our own inclement weather. For as long as this heatwave lasts, then, expect to see Scots in sunglasses in public areas and parks, eating ice-cream, luxuriating in the sheer Mediterranean novelty of it all, with young children persistently asking: "What's that big bright thing in the sky, mum?"