Saturday 10 September 2016

My Summer Highlights

Hello, thank you for dropping in, especially if you have come via Amy at Love Made My Home.  Today I am joining in Five On Friday and if you have time, do hop over there and see what everyone else has been up to this week. 

For the last twenty-three years my life has been regulated by the rhythm of the school year and as the Best Beloved is a teacher, that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.  It's a peculiar rhythm, and I know that many people feel that teachers enjoy a lot of time off, but the reality is much more complicated than that. However, what is true is that teachers have a good stretch of time away from school in the summer, about six weeks here in the UK, which gives them a chance to release the tension from their minds and bodies, to stretch out their limbs and their horizons and, more prosaically, to tackle all the tasks they put off during termtime.  (In my case, it also meant that I had the best possible school holiday childcare!)
 
During the second half of August I noticed that many bloggers were referring to the onset of autumn and honestly, it practically made me weep with frustration: as far as I am concerned, it can't be autumn during the SUMMER holidays!  These weeks are very precious to me, a time when I have thoughtful, relaxed Holiday Husband who shops and cooks while I am at work (and while I am not) rather than the uptight, blinkered, tired chap who I look after during termtime.  The first week of the holiday is always tricky for us as while I can feel the metaphorical weights lift from my shoulders almost immediately and am desperate to kick up my heels, he unfurls slowly, a little each day.  It takes him about a week to adjust and fully relax into our holiday pattern - for although he is not at work, of course there is a pattern. 

He returned to school at the beginning of this week and we are back in our usual termtime routine now, but still lingering is the glow of summer, and I am reluctant to let it go.  So, as a final hurrah, here are five special things about this year's summer break.

1.  Eggs for breakfast

During termtime our weekday breakfast is always cereal but during the school holidays, every morning the Best Beloved cooks eggs for breakfast, either boiled or poached.  It's a very fine way to begin the day - and no, I am not too old for soldiers, buttered and carefully cut to dipping size.  After I have scooped out every last bit of deliciousness, I turn over the empty shell and bash a hole in it with my spoon so that no witches will be able to use it as a boat and put to sea to cause trouble for sailors.  For some reason, the Best Beloved thinks this is ridiculous!

 
2.  Lunch in the garden

If we were both at home and lunchtime and it wasn't raining, we took our lunch outside and ate together in the garden.  We can never do this on termtime weekdays so it felt like an enormous treat, lingering and chatting over enormous mugs of tea.  We had plenty of bees in the garden this year but very few butterflies, so I was delighted when a single red admiral chose to join us one day and basked in the sunshine on the brick wall...upside-down!



3.  Our family holiday

This summer was different from all the summers we have had before as the Best Beloved and I spent a lot of time together on our own: The Mathematician flew away across the sea in the middle of August to spend a year working before she returns to university in September 2017, and before she went she spent several weeks visiting family and friends and holidaying in Wales, London, Hampshire and Italy.  Consequently, the time we spent with her, and together with her sister, felt very precious.  Our week's holiday in Cornwall and The Scillies was so wonderful (thank you, sunshine) and I don't know when our family will all holiday together again. 



 
4.  The Shrewsbury Folk Festival
 
For the eighth time, we went to the Shrewsbury Folk Festival and were transported to a parallel world, one full of colour and music where everyone seems to be friendly, accepting and kind.  For four days we lived in this happy bubble, untouched by the reality of the world outside the West Mid Showground.  We watched people dance, listened to bands play, drank beer (him) and cocktails (me!) in the sunshine, stayed up into the wee small hours every night and I wore flowers in my hair.  Although we spent a fair amount of lovely time with The Teacher, who was dancing there, for the first time we had no teenagers with us and it was different - I have explained to the Best Beloved that he is now responsible for chatting to me and, equally important, for listening to me.  He is a bit shocked! 
 
 
 
5.  A Declaration
 
We caught a bit of Desert Island Discs on the radio one day in the car.  Do you know it?  A celebrity guest chooses eight pieces of music which s/he would take if cast away on a desert island.  I would find it extremely difficult to narrow my selection down to eight, so I asked the Best Beloved to choose one song which he would take with him - not necessarily the only one, but one of several.  He chose Follow You, Follow Me by Genesis and when I asked him why, he said, "It's about the ups and downs of a relationship; it's about commitment; it's about us."  My jaw fell on the floor.  He is not prone to expressing his feelings on any subject and is usually as romantic as a cabbage, but these words just tripped out of his mouth really easily!  He looked at me knowingly and said, "That's it.  I'm an emotional husk now."  We laughed, and I didn't push my luck any further, but I have played this song an awful lot over the last ten days.
 
 
 

I just couldn't bring myself to join in Five On Friday last week because the summer holiday wasn't over and I wanted to squeeze out of it every last drop of relaxed happiness that I could.  I am almost ready for autumn, and of course, as I am an astronomical kind of gal, that won't begin until the equinox on 22nd September, but in the meantime, the weather is kind and I am stretching out in my summer glow.
 
Please do pop over to read Amy's post because it's very special this week and has made my eyes very green.
 
See you soon.
 
Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x
 

 

 

17 comments:

  1. What a lovely post full of summery things. I empathise so much with you. Although now retired my other half and I are both teachers. Holidays were always special times, as you say to do things that the rest of term does not permit. I always felt that I was married to two different people. The relaxed husband and the exhausted one. Glad you made the most of your husband this summer. I love his choice of music. B x

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    1. You've hit the nail squarely on the head there, Barbara - it is like being married to two different people. I am glad I am not alone. x

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  2. Loved all of this post. I too cannot get my head into fall just yet, mostly because it's been soaring into 30C sweltering heat wave every day this first week of September. Still in shorts, sandals and applying sunscreen. I've never heard of breaking apart your "egg boat" to discourage witches. You hear the strangest tales! I'm so glad you had a wonderful summer with your complete family together ... it's always so nice to have that opportunity once the kids become teenagers. Loved the bit about your romantic husband, so funny and sweet. I think I would take Honey Drippers "Sea of Love" as that was our first song at our wedding.
    Wendy

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    1. Sea of Love is a very romantic song. There has been very hot weather in some parts of England this week but we haven't had it here in Shropshire, although we have had some warm, sunny days, and I think everywhere has had terrific thunderstorms at some point this week. Many people h!ere have never heard of witches using spent eggshells as boats, but I grew up with the notion and have tried to pass it on - in vain, my girls think I'm ridiculous! x

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  3. Ah, happy days. Wishing you many more, after all it's not long til the C holiday!!! x

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    1. Ssssssssssh! I'm not even ready to contemplate that season yet! x

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  4. Enjoyed your Friday very much. I'm a retired teacher, as is my husband (who first did 21 years in the Army) so I definitely know what you mean about the rhythms of the school year.

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    1. I'm intrigued to discover that so many of us and/or our husbands are partners, Janet. I wonder if it's a communication thing that brings us to blogging? x

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  5. Lovely, I know exactly how you feel as my husband was a teacher before he took early retirement and I loved the summer break and never wanted it to end. It looks as if you have had a wonderful summer:)

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    1. It really was special this year, Rosie, and I am still holding on to it, just about. I used to want it to carry on endlessly but now that the Best Beloved is a supply teacher, it means no income so we are ready for him to go back to work when the time comes. x

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  6. I LOVE the idea of you thwarting witches. I must have allowed an Armada of them to get afloat, but I promise from now on we will always smash their boats in before we throw them in the compost just to be on the safe side!

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    1. Good girl! With your proximity to the North Sea I bet they are in high demand in Southend! Lovely to see you here. x

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  7. OK, so being from the states, I don't know what "soldiers" are, so please explain. I want to try them. You know how us Americans are so smitten with stuff like that! I know exactly how you feel. I used to work as a secretary at a University, and the professors were off all summer long. I was off for six weeks and I loved it. As a matter of fact, when my boss made my job 12 months, I quit! What ever would I do with no one around but me? Anyway, good for you for getting your Shug to open up and talk to you. I need the recipe for that too!

    Cindy Bee

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    1. I really don't know what made him open up, Cindy, I wish I did! Soldiers are the traditional accompaniment to a soft-boiled egg: butter a slice of bread, cut it in half and then cut each half into neat little strips, each the perfect size to dip into your egg yolk. I get ten out of each slice. Some people toast the bread first and some people don't - I never do. Lovely to see you here. x

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  8. Hi 'tiggy' I live in Shropshire too! I was also frustrated with early autumn chit chat in blogland so feel that we have more than geography in common. Last year I danced at the Folk Festival in the tribal bellydance group but we had year off this year but I woul drecognise those Kickin' alice skirts anywhere as my neighbour dances with them!!! Do pop over to my blog, would be great to see you there. Jo x

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    1. Spot on, Jo! I was disappointed that the Severn Sisters were absent from the SFF this year, you always bring a touch of exotic glamour to the party, but Kickin' Alice have to be my favourite because my daughter is a member! I am thrilled to see you here. x

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  9. What a lovely list. You can't beat a boiled or poached egg for breakfast and soldiers are always most welcome - so much more tasty if someone else prepares them for you. Glad to hear that you enjoyed your summer break - I agree with you - autumn did not arrive until yesterday! Marie x

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