SO far, summer has been a washout. Rain delays at Wimbledon, abandoned barbecues, poor sales on the high street – the rain has a lot to answer for.

We could huddle under our brollies and grumble about the no-show British summer, or we could think of some jolly good news to cheer us up.

If you are struggling on that front, I’ve put on my rose-tinted glasses to come up with some well-timed reasons to be cheerful.

1. Beating the clock. Andy Murray defeating his opponent and the Wimbledon night-play curfew by closing out his match against Cypriot battler Baghdatis at 11.02 precisely last Friday night. Grins all round (except in Cyprus of course).

2. Mini Spaniards. Apart from four sensational goals, the best thing about the final of the European football championships was when the winning side’s tiny children flooded the pitch, sporting the red and gold shirts with their own names emblazoned on the back.

3. Five million miracles. It was announced this week that the five millionth IVF baby has been born. British woman Lesley Brown made history 34 years ago when she gave birth to a daughter, Louise, the first IVF baby, on July 25, 1978. It was a huge medical breakthrough for pioneering doctors Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe. Sadly, Lesley Brown died last month, but her legacy to parents the world over will live on.

4. Return of the Dark Knight. Get set to go back to Gotham City as the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, opens in cinemas on July 20. If that’s not enough, James Bond dives into movie houses in Skyfall, released in October.

5. Grey matter. Fifty Shades Of Grey is a publishing sensation and if anecdotal evidence counts for anything, the novel, part of a trilogy, is helping to perk up the nation’s flagging sex drive. A hot debate now surrounds who will play the lead character in the movie of the books.

6. Jamie in York. After a long wait, Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant is finally to open on Monday at the historic Lendal Cellars site next to the Guildhall.

7. Olympic spirit. With the finish of the Euro championships and the finals at Wimbledon this weekend, sports fans won’t have withdrawals for long: the Olympics begin on July 27, when you can follow the fortunes of Team GB in football and tennis as well as a wealth of other events.

8. The rain. Do look on the bright side; Britain is no longer in drought, there will be no need for a hosepipe ban and we can still live in the hope that come St Swithin’s day on July 15, the sun will return (and, according to the tradition, continue for the next 40 days).

MY Facebook profile picture is blank at the moment. And the reason? Sheer vanity – I am waiting to upload a flattering picture.

You know the type: the light catches you in such a way as to roll back the years; where your skin looks teen smooth; your hair salon fresh, with not a wisp of unwieldy grey in site.

Happily, the only person who can upload that profile pic is me – which, given evidence from a new survey, is just as well.

Apparently our social networking sisters are not as sisterly as we might suspect.

Almost half say they would happily upload an unflattering picture of a mate.

Worse still, one in four of these so called “friends” admitted to having committed “bikini photo sabotage”; that is, purposely uploading unflattering pictures of friends in beach wear.

Nearly eight in ten of the women surveyed said they’d removed “tagged” photos of themselves that they didn’t like from social networking sites.

Surprisingly, about one in five women who had committed “photo sabotage” refused to remove the offending picture, despite a request from their unhappy pal. Ladies, I shouldn’t have to say it, but with friends like these…