Okay, screw the Pimm's cup. The drink that you all should be quaffing to chase the summertime blues away is the Pinkerton. It is refreshing, festive, and not (yet) ubiquitous. It takes a little bit of advance preparation, but YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. And once you have your supplies in place, it is simplicity itself to mix up even when you are dripping with sweat.

2 oz gin
about 6 oz Limonata (one of the little bottles or half a can)
1 or 2 cherries that have been soaked in maraschino liqueur
a splash of the maraschino they've been soaking in

Obviously the cherries and maraschino are the part that require pre-planning. There was an article not long ago in the New York Times about the original maraschino cherry and how to recreate it. I recommend following the author's instructions, which are not difficult, as long as you can actually put your hands on a bottle of maraschino. For the record, the instructions boil down to this: get a bag of nice organic frozen cherries. Dump them into a jar and cover them with maraschino, a delicious not-too-sweet clear liqueur (also an ingredient in the classic Aviation) made from cherries and their crushed pits. Wait a few days and the liqueur will turn a wonderfully evil color and the cherries will be transformed into boozy marvels. You can go to a lot of trouble pitting fresh cherries, but the frozen really work very well, I think.

Once you have a jar of these in your refrigerator, and you have obtained some Limonata -- alternately, you can use Schweppes bitter lemon soda and make a Cranky Pinkerton, which is also worthwhile -- you're in business. All the ingredients should be cold, as in its canonical form, this drink is not served on the rocks. Use at least a 10 oz. glass. Pour in the gin, top with chilled soda, drop in your cherries, and add about a teaspoon of the ruby liqueur. The drink will turn a lovely deep pink. Stir very gently and serve.