Play is an evocative word. Even as responsible adults, or maybe especially so, play features less than when we were in our youth, but play is crucial for our physical, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing.

You can play in the sun and in the snow, and you can play in the rain. In fact, one of my favourite things is putting my wellies on in Winter and splashing through muddy puddles and getting a bit mucky. It feels naughty and rebellious, and anticipating a telling off before getting cleaned up and warm again is all part of the fun of that playtime.

Some words that conjure up play for me are: beach, sea, water, sand, cinema, popcorn, ice cream, food. Food. Now that’s a fundamental one for me as I live to eat and I love cooking and baking. I’d rather shop for food than clothes. Clothes shopping definitely isn’t play, it’s not my idea of fun.

We all have very contrasting ideas of what play and fun is. Last week a lovely Finnish couple stared at me confusedly when I asked if they had their loyalty card handy. I hadn’t yet heard they weren’t locals or fluent in English. With their limited vocabulary, they went on to explain they’d come to town for the Last of the Summer Wine Experience. Can you imagine that? A vintage bus trip around town visiting locations from the series followed by supper at Compo’s chippy wouldn’t be my idea of fun. For this couple, it might have been the highpoint of their holiday.

The other day, yet another grey great big fat fucking miserable rainy June day, I was so fed up I decided to wear my bikini instead of underwear. That was fun. I was transported back to the beach where I experienced a few magical moments of blissful ease and carefree abandon as I gazed out at the azure blue sea and basked in the warm sunshine.

At the shop much of the food has a playful theme. Fun sells. Despite the weather, picnic goods are strategically positioned next to barbecue equipment, hinting that Summer is definitely on its way to Yorkshire. Branding and product naming is big business and companies play on our inability to handle boredom, emptiness, solitude and hunger. Joy Fills. Tony’s Chocolonely. Feast. Magnum. Not sure what that’s about but if it could make Tom Selleck appear, that would be rather nice thanks.

Play is a very musical word too. One plays music on an instrument. But in order to enjoy playing, you have to put in hours of often gruelling practice to reap the reward of sharing your expressive fun with an audience. That was a notion I genuinely struggled to get my younger students to grasp.

Look at my cat. She’s just turned 16. In human years, that’s about 84. She’s not in the best health and she has a liver condition but she’s still young at heart and on several occasions throughout the day, she has mad moments where she goes a bit nuts. She runs after a scrunched up piece of discarded scrap paper like a lunatic, rolls on her side and air kicks the rug. Breathless after her energetic aggressive exertion, she looks around with the expression of a creature that was just possessed by an unknown force. And maybe that’s what we need so as to access our playful fun side. The opportunity to just say fuck it and do inanely insane silly things without worrying about the consequences.

I think it comes down to honouring that instinctive authentic free spirit that resides in each and every one of us, whether we’re 48 or 84.

What does play mean to you? How do you express your playfulness?

Rare Bit