A History of Sunburn

UV levels increase in the spring across the UK, reaching a peak in late June.

In this current spell of fine weather, we could see some of the highest UV levels ever recorded.

‘Normally they’re about six or seven in the summer months’, says BBC Weather’s Matt Taylor. ‘Today we could hit a nine in some parts of southern England and South Wales.’
                                                                                                               BBC News, June 25, 2020

On June 12, 1945,
Albert Minhinnick had written in his diary:
                                                    This is one of the worst
                                               malaria areas in the world.
                                         Also cholera. What a dump….

…while 75 years later
I’m walking the lanes to Picton Court
to verify how you are, recalling
that you said Albert always kept a mouthful
in his canteen, while the other soldiers
finished every drop…

                              First thing
I note is three of your friends
out on the grass in straw hats,
...