‘Toasty Tuesday’ sees thousands skive off work to bask in sun

The sun, what a concept

Aside from the fact that it will inevitably devour us all in a hot, fiery inferno, the sun has been very kind to us. It provides us with the conditions to live on this planet without burning ourselves too much. It also allows us the opportunity to stare at it as young children before realising quickly that we will go blind if we continue to do so. It teaches us from a young age. Most crucially though, the sun allows us to enjoy its warmth every now and then, affording us the rare chance to discard our three-piece suit, monocle and top hat in exchange for our shorts, tank tops, leisure monocles and inflatable top hats. Unfortunately, while the majority of us accept this generous gift from the solar deity Ra with gratitude and the promise of a better tomorrow, some people out there choose instead to laugh in the face of the Sun God and use the warm weather to take the day off work. According to Brian Gaze of The Weather Outlook, speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he revealed that there would a spate of absences as employees collectively call in sick, presumably with food poisoning, on what he has called “toasty Tuesday”. “Employers should not be surprised to see an increase in sick days as employees bunk off to take advantage of the last of the heat," he said. “It was a glorious BBQ Bank Holiday Monday. Many Brits who headed to Europe for the weekend would have been better off staying home.” The links between warm weather and laziness are plentiful and go back decades, and it would appear that the links are being proven correct. Although, with forecasters suggesting that the wave of heat will dissipate before we even get the chance to squeeze out a dollop of sun cream, maybe the skivers are the true visionaries here.