Monday 29 August 2011

We'll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not

Summer has been so coy, hasn't had the confidence to remind us what intense luminosity she possesses.
Autumn is now upon us, yet my new pencil case, shiny shoes and scratchy shirt are nowhere to be found. I still feel the 'back to school' stab of dread, and it still smarts (I blame working in schools). Every September, I  think back to that poignant moment during summer, the one locked in the photograph section of you brain. Some years it's being in a boat, hair all warm like fibre-optic lights, sea and sky equally serene, perfect, everybody feeling smug and content - moments like this aren't meant to last long.
Eating dry, charred meat holds special significance in summer it feels right - washed down with barely acceptable wine. A similar feast any other time of year would lead to melancholy.

Summer is not my favourite season, it promises so much, lies to you, leads you to think all of life's best moments are those mentioned in Will Smith's Summertime.


Autumn exaggerates it's charm too, skipping through a shag-pile carpet of rust, gold, copper feeling delighted about your new scarf...maybe very briefly, once.

Spring, so inspiring, (anagram unintentional) and it's been a while since the last big Christian celebration so everyone's aching for another.
Egg-box and tissue-paper daffodil pictures decorate the fridge, mounted on flimsy, faded school paper. Summer has been  stealing Spring's (thunder? No - spotlight) lately -  she has no shame, and neither do we.

Winter, flu-jab -  it's time to prove yourself, so please don't let me down. Central heating, such a wonderful luxury, but one day something much better will be invented and we will all talk about the days of large painted metal eyesores spoiling our walls.

Winter 2010 - you excelled yourself, Summer is a girl, Autum is a boy, Spring is a lady but Winter, you are a real beast. A local man was killed by an icicle, Raj had to walk the treacherous 5 miles to his shop, we ate casseroles made from the stuff in the freezer which usually gets binned.
My family were all near, we sat together watching the most beautiful scene as the sky emptied endless unique flakes of delicate frozen water. Time stood still, we drank hot chocolate made from a giant melted slab of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and we stared at the snow globe world.
I was so happy.

Gloves and hats are for wimps - lukewarm milk for me


My favourite Winter track, and it seems I'm not alone - a comment below it  reads:

This is stunning, I have loved it since I first heard it, I was trying to get a friend into this who originally felt it was a mess, but I think the trick is to listen to it like jazz, let it flow in and flow out without trying to pick bits out. To me, its beautiful, soul moving and something elemental, like a mountain stream falling over rocks on a snowy mountain, sounds stupid I'm sure.


Yes, it does sound stupid, but don't worry, one day the whole world will understand...

14 comments:

  1. Hello:
    What a wonderfully lyrical and poetical evocation of the seasons. We love the image of a personified Autumn exaggerating her charm for this is, surely, always the case. Think, for those who do not believe this, of those dank, dreary, dark and damp [the alliteration is not intended for any purpose] November afternoons.

    Meanwhile, here summer extends itself!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that picture of you and the boys in the snow! Your favourite winter track is a stunner.
    I'm most definitely a summer person. My soundtrack is Groove Armada's Sand Dunes. x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am most definitely a winter person = and a night person too! Maybe it is because I am a scorpio??

    Loving the photo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely Luce. I'm enjoying the perfect cusp of spring here, snow-blossom-frost-blue skies-snow. I day-dream, especially in snow free winters, of Canada; I just know I would be so happy with 4 months of snow a year, but I am content with my blue-skies whatever the season home x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I feel very let down by our sunmmer, it did indeed lie to us! ur winter was particularly brutal but I fondly (well, mostly) remember the snow..and the hot chocolate! Lovely post.

    xx Jazzy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bonsoir! 'Winter as a beast', I liked that phrase a lot. I love 'bad' weather, and I guess the fact of it is that most of it comes in the winter. I remember winters in Wales when the electrics would go off and we'd watch TV connected to my dad's car (would have been a lovely Ford Sierra) battery, and we would have blazing log fires that nearly set the chimney alight. The icicles under our windows were about three feet long in December. Deadly. Weirdly, we also had icicles growing up from the ground, under where the central heating vent was dripping condensation. I've never seen that before.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Autumn means back to school, but not for me anymore. I always used to feel it had arrived when the robin did its sad litle flutey song - you know the one - and then Summer was really over for me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love yout photo! Im a winter girl, i dont fair well in the heat im afraid :O) Scarlett x

    ReplyDelete
  9. After the summer's tease and early promise the horse chestnuts are well and truly turning on this, the other side of the border. (actually, my bit of England is but a pimple sticking out into the clear cheek of Wales) However, I do not wish to be reminded yet of the winters we now experience, hot chocolate and dreaming by the fireside notwithstanding.

    Please Miss, may I have at lest a pleasant autumn first?

    ReplyDelete
  10. You are all welcome to revel in your favourite seasons, who am I to suggest Winter is the 'don'?
    I have enjoyed the sun's rays immensely today, by the sea, gentle breeze - white light making me squint.
    I'm no more a fan of being cold than I am sweating like a pig, I think my main pleasure is having a shared moment of enjoying NOW, if you get my meaning?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love all the seasons for different reasons, but Spring is always full of hope, hope for the end of the cold weather, the promise of sunshine and the green shoots and new life budding :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. You and your boys are so cute all bundled up :) Love your winter memories! I am a summer girl for sure but once winter's here I am so thankful for it. The soundtrack in my head is almost always a wintery one...I love the sounds of Sigur Ros, Mogwai, My Dying Bride and Kataonia, all so tragically elegant!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. A fine evocation of winter. I especially liked the hot chocolate - come to think of it I'll try that myself.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Heya¡­my very first comment on your site. ,I have been reading your blog for a while and thought I would completely pop in and drop a friendly note. . It is great stuff indeed. I also wanted to ask..is there a way to subscribe to your site via email?



    Shag Pile Carpets

    ReplyDelete

Sorry I am having to filter comments at the moment