Summer's over

I’m always kind of sad at the end of summer.* Summer time is my time – I love Christmas, I love New Year, I love my birthday, I love the lead up to these things. I love holiday time, although I do think it should be much, much longer. What point is there, really, to working through the hottest part of the year? We should all just shut things down the week before Christmas and not pick back up again until the last week of February. Anyone who works in the service industries could get paid time and a half and have reduced hours if they want, seeing we will all need bars to go to, kids’ holiday programs, garbage collected etc… Sorry, I guess those 13 years of school and then the 4 of uni kind of got me used to lots of holidays, and I’m daydreaming about my ideal world here.

Also, this shouldn’t be quite so important to me, but it is. I hate the approach of the colder weather. So, at least this year, that’s something I don’t need to worry about. In fact ‘winter’ weather (more accurately, ‘dry season’ weather) will probably be nicer than the summer weather here, although extreme heat doesn’t enrage me the way extreme cold does. Particularly for someone who’s lived in Canberra and Farmidale. I foresee lots of hilarious conversations where people comment on the ‘cold’ weather in Dili and I say ‘Yes, isn’t it wonderful’? Hahaha.

In any case, Canberrans, Farmidalians, please know that I am thinking of you with warmest sympathy right now, because I know it will be coooool there very soon. Very warm sympathy. Literally. Hee hee hee hee hee

For me, the nice thing about this time of year, whether you are freezing cold or sunning it up in warm climes, is that things start to happen. Housewarmings, farewells, work lunches, parties: everyone is well and truly back at work or school or uni and ready to get into the social stuff in their spare time. I like being busy.

• I was taught in infants that there are four seasons and they begin on the first day of December, March, June and September. Although this is clearly not the case in terms of weather or sun / moon phases, I still can’t help but mark the turn of each season on these dates.