Dear Readers,

I remember thinking last year, when is summer really going to arrive? When the humidity finally descended it seemed to pass almost as quickly as it came. No such dilemma this year! Switching on the engine in my car during a lunch interval, the 50 degree Celsius reading on the dashboard confirmed what many have been saying, “it looks like it’s going to be long, hard summer.”

A perfect reason, I say, to glance through the summer coolers feature, in the dining section, this month. You’ll find a very tempting range of iced drinks, smoothies, ice creams and frozen yoghurts to drown out the heat. There’s also our annual round-up of activities at shopping malls; another safe haven to keep the sun’s excesses at bay.

Our downtime pages, revamped in this edition, offer plenty of excuses to stay indoors as well, whether your pleasure is listening to music, watching movies, browsing the web or playing computer games. Speaking of which, the kids are home for the summer!

The cover story highlights the Summer Festival of entertainment running through July. For the more discerning, there are shows on Arabic culture and music while those out for some high speed action can take in Irish dancing. For the younger children, the Little Big Club is in town — Barney and his friends, Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder.

For each generation of youngsters there always seems, though, to be a star attraction; for my kids it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. Today, the cartoon of parental paranoia is Ben 10. The Bahrain International Exhibition and Conference Centre (BIECC) will certainly be packed for these shows!

At the other end of the spectrum, we talk to former Bapco chief executive officer, Hussain Tadayon. He’s anything but retired, but he tells us he plans to spend more time with his grandchildren. I guess we’ll see him, then, at the BIECC! In our business lead we offer a tribute to the ubiquitous Microsoft Excel spreadsheet; was it really 25 years ago it first hit a ‘green’ screen near you?

So, whatever you do this month to spare yourself from the heat, there’s plenty to keep you entertained and ‘chilled’, to enjoy the great way of life offered by the Kingdom. .