It’s September. Time to put your knees away | Zoe Williams

From May to August, social media is awash with photos of brown knees. But summer’s almost over and they’re all starting to blur together

It’s the start of September, so time to bid adieu to the classic holiday selfie: two brown knees. If it’s on the socials there might be a caption – #bestlife, #bliss – and if it’s in a text it needs no explanation at all, because its message is universal. I am in a hot place. I am doing what I please, mainly supine. I have knees.

Everyone’s knees look the same, which is weird given the sheer variety of body shapes, and everyone’s background is mainly the same: a body of water, conceivably a mountain. There might be a cocktail to the side, but there will never be anything interesting, such as a dog, because that would dispel the serenity. It would be good if the knees were just a frame, and between them some distant, barely legible scene were playing out, such as a sword fight or a harras of many-coloured horses, but that would run counter to the vibe: “I am completely at peace and definitely not seeking out horses and lying near them for clicks.”