FT SeriesA very different summerGoodbye festivals, dressing up and impromptu flits across Europe; hello pets, remote cottages and the quest for the perfect picnic© Annabel WrightThe search for the perfect remote cottage this summerAs many prepare for the year of staycations, Tom Robbins on how the most isolated spots will be in great demandGood times, bad parents: how festivals became a family affairFrom foul‑mouthed comics to rude rappers, summer won’t be summer without these weekend treatsWilliam Boyd: how to challenge yourself as a writer during lockdownPenning a story with his young godchildren put the author's powers of narration to the testWant to liven up your park picnic? Try these three recipesRavinder Bhogal and others share their favourite dishes for a moveable feastWhy I chose to spend my lockdown learning DanishAfter a 43 day streak on my language app, I can now pick out whole phrases in the Danish TV series that I love’Peak beard: why are men so committed to this lockdown look?What to do with your facial hair has never been so debated. One beard-stroker finds out whyMore from this SeriesI didn’t like cats... until the pandemicWhat happened when one pet sceptic was forced to share lockdown life with a new family memberHome used to be ‘wherever my family is’ – but the pandemic changed thatLockdown life is hard for internationals whose loved ones are scattered across the world‘This time, the protests won’t end when the summer does’Why the Black Lives Matter marches feel different in the era of Covid-19Remote exams, uncertain future: what it’s like to graduate right nowOne university student on taking your finals in the middle of a pandemicNot dressed up and nowhere to goJo Ellison longs for the opportunity to put on a pair of really painful heels againA summer without sleep-away camp? We’re all losing outFor the first time in 98 years, the camp where Joshua Chaffin spent his childhood summers won't be openingCambridge has a tourist problem: it no longer has anySome used to quietly resent the day-trippers but now they’ve gone, it’s bloody awful, says Tim HaywardWhat happens when your GCSEs are cancelled‘One thing I have learnt this year is that life can be a lot more unpredictable than I thought’Save the new date: the future of weddings after coronavirus‘I can’t actually remember the last summer that wasn’t structured around nuptials. I am, as they say, at that age’‘I want my Europe back’: Simon Kuper on a summer without travelFlitting between countries to live, work and steal ideas was one of the continent’s great perksCrowds, pebbles, rain? My quest for the great British beachSelf-confessed seaside snob Pilita Clark goes in search of some pristine golden sandsHeard about the comedian who couldn’t go to Edinburgh?When Cally Beaton gave up boardroom life to be a comic, the one commodity she didn’t anticipate running out of was the publicA summer of yet more childcare? Bring it onHenry Mance on how lockdown has led him to (mostly) embrace slow parentingLockdown’s ending and I still can’t finish the latest Hilary MantelMiranda Green is weighed down by Thomas Cromwell’s impending doom in The Mirror and the LightWhat going to a Premier League football match is like right now | Free to readNo roaring crowd, no celebratory hugs: Murad Ahmed reports from the empty stands at a high-profile fixture
